Petitioner Pushes Back on Texas AG’s Arguments in Plea to High Court to Review Copyright Takings Case Against Texas A&M — The Supreme Court will consider whether to review a decision dismissing copyright infringement claims on sovereign immunity grounds at its first conference of its upcoming October 2022 term. IPWatchdog reviews petitioner Michael Bynum’s recently filed reply brief, which argues the Fifth Circuit “erred in failing to find constitutional violations of both the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause and due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.”
11th Circuit overturns $1.4 million award for rapper in copyright battle — The court vacated a default judgment after holding that the lower court erred when it concluded that the plaintiff did not have to serve an amended complaint on the defendant. One of the judges wrote a concurring opinion that directed the court on remand to consider whether the award of both a permanent injunction and a running royalty is appropriate.
Will Divergent Copyright Laws Between the US and UK Influence Where You Do Business as an Artificial Intelligence Company? — “While certain decisions suggest that copying of works for non-expressive automated processes, such as training an AI system, may constitute a fair use, the issue not fully settled in the US and requires a fact intensive inquiry under the four fair use factors. By contrast, the UK government recently issued its response to the UK Intellectual Property Office’s Consultation, proposing a new copyright and database right exception that allows text and data mining (TDM), i.e., automated computational techniques used to analyze large amounts of information, for any purpose.”
Book publishers, Internet Archive spar over fate of digital-book lending lawsuit — Blake Brittain reports for Reuters, “The publishers responded Friday that the Archive’s argument is a ‘study in blind denial that ignores established law.’ They said courts and Congress have rejected the Archive’s position that buying physical books allows it to create ‘millions of unauthorized ebooks.’ They also said the Archive ‘displays contempt for authors’ by usurping the market for their e-books, and challenged the Archive’s assertion that its project is not commercial. The brief cited the project’s ‘symbiotic’ relationship with the for-profit, socially conscious bookseller Better World Books, which is owned by an Archive-affiliated nonprofit.”
Oversight of the U.S. Copyright Office — On Wednesday, the Senate IP Subcommittee heard from Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter regarding the ongoing work of the Office. Perlmutter’s testimony covered the Office’s launch of the Copyright Claims Board in June, its new report examining women’s authorship rate in the U.S. copyright registration system, IT modernization efforts, and its usual rulemaking, legislative, and litigation activities.