Blogs
February 4, 2025

January 2025 Roundup of Copyright News

by Rachel Kim

2025 started with a flurry of copyright-related activities, setting the tone for what may be a very active year ahead in the copyright world. Among other events, the U.S. Copyright Office published a new report in its AI Study and members of Congress introduced several copyright-related bills. Here is a quick snapshot of some of copyright-related activities that occurred during the month of January as well as a few events to look forward to in February.

Copyright Alliance Blogs: The Copyright Alliance published some blog posts in January:

CCB Final Determinations Summary: As of the end of January 2025, the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) issued 36 final determinations. Claimants prevailed about 67% of the time and the average damage amount awarded by the CCB across all final determinations is $2,374. Nineteen percent of the final determinations issued by the CCB were issued in cases brought through the “smaller claims” process. The average time it took for the CCB to issue a final determination from the time a case was first filed through a standard CCB proceeding is about 15 months, while for a case filed through the “smaller claims” process, the average time is about 11.6 months.

USCO Releases Part Two of AI Study on Copyrightability: On January 29, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) released Part Two of its AI Study, which analyzes the scope of copyright protections for AI-generated outputs. In the study, the Office reaffirms its position that prompting an AI model “does not provide sufficient human control to make users of an AI system the authors of the output.” The Office further states that AI outputs can be protected by copyright only where a human has determined “sufficient expressive elements.” The Office gives examples including situations where human-authored works that are used as input prompts are perceptible in an AI generated output or when a human makes creative arrangements or modifications of an AI-generated output. The Office concludes the study by stating that it does not see a need for a new suis generis right for AI-generated material.

Executive Branch Activities

USTR Releases 2024 Notorious Markets Report: On January 8, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published its 2024 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy report, which highlights global markets that engage in substantial intellectual property piracy. The report names various websites that provide pirated copyrighted works, including Libgen.rs and Sci-Hub.se; piracy streaming websites such as Cuevana, Vegamovies, MagisTV, and ThePirateBay; stream-ripping websites such as Savefrom; and file sharing websites and cyberlockers such as Krakenfiles, Rapidgator and Nsw2u.

USPTO Publishes AI Strategy: On January 14, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published its Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which outlines the agency’s plans for addressing AI and IP issues to promote innovation and opportunities. On copyright issues, the USPTO stated that it would continue to monitor federal litigation, provide technical assistance to Congress, monitor international developments, engage with foreign IP offices, and continue to conduct stakeholder outreach.

Coke Stewart Becomes Acting USPTO Director: On January 20, Coke Stewart took the oath as the new Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO. In her role, Stewart will immediately serve as Acting Undersecretary and Acting Director until the Senate confirms a permanent USPTO Director. The Trump Administration has yet to announce its nominee for USPTO Undersecretary and Director.

Senate Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee Assignments for 119th Congress: Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) will once again be chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) with Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) acting as the Ranking Member. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) will act as Ranking Member for the Senate Judiciary Committee’s (SJC) Intellectual Property Subcommittee where he will work with returning IP Subcommittee Chairman Thom Tillis (R-NC).

House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee Assignments for 119th Congress: Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) remains Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) while Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) will act as Ranking Member. As for the IP Subcommittee, Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) returns as Chairman of the Subcommittee and as does Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA) as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee.

Several Music Bills Introduced in Congress: On January 23, multiple bills to support the music industry and creators were introduced in Congress. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) introduced S.195, the American Music Tourism Act, which amends parts of the Visit America Act to support and increase music tourism for both domestic and international visitors. The bill was also introduced in the House by Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) and Nanette Barragán (D-CA) as H.R.617. Senators Blackburn and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) also introduced S.196, the Main Event Ticketing Act, which seeks to strengthen enforcement of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act of 2016 and better protect consumers in the online ticket marketplace through various measures, including the creation of a reporting requirement of successful bot attacks to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and of a consumer complaint database. Finally, Senators Blackburn and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced S.194, the Help Independent Tracks Succeed (HITS) Act, which seeks to support independent music creators by allowing the deduction of 100 percent of recording production expenses in the year they are incurred, rather than in later years. More information about the bills is available in Senator Blackburn’s press release.

Representative Lofgren Introduces Judicial Blocking Legislation: On January 29, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced H.R.791, the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA) which introduces new language in Chapter 5 of the Copyright Act to permit copyright owners to petition a U.S. federal district court for a no-fault injunctive order to require service providers to block access to infringing foreign websites or online services. More information is available in Representative Lofgren’s statement. The Copyright Alliance and the Motion Picture Association (MPA) issued statements about the bill in addition to other organizations.

Senate Commerce Committee Holds Secretary of Commerce Nomination Hearing: On January 29, 2025, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation held a hearing to consider the nomination of Howard Lutnick for Secretary of Commerce. Senators Young (R-IN), Budd (R-NC), and Curtis (R-UT) posed several questions about threats to and theft of American intellectual property (IP) from Chinese entities, particularly in the wake of the news of Deepseek’s meteoric rise. Though focusing mostly on patents, Lutnick generally emphasized that U.S. intellectual property rights must be rigorously enforced and protected against theft and that a reciprocity-based approach must be applied if China does not respect U.S. IP rights.

Computer Program Infringement Case Appealed to Supreme Court: On January 6, defense contractor Strategic Technology Institute, Inc. filed a cert petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, appealing a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that ruled the petitioner infringed the copyright in computer programs created and owned by respondent, MGMTL, LLC. The questions presented in the case are: (1) Whether the scope of protectable matter in a computer program is a question for judge or jury; (2) whether a computer program’s menu command hierarchy and input forms are copyrightable; and (3) whether the fourth fair use factor weighs in favor of a finding of fair use as a matter of law in light of evidence of a limited market.

Cert Request Filed with SCOTUS in Statute of Limitations Case: On January 15, shoe designer, Ruthie Allyn Davis, filed a cert petition, appealing a Second Circuit decision in RADesign, Inc. v. Michael Grecco Productions, Inc., which ruled that Davis did not adequately meet her burden as a defendant to plead and prove a statute of limitations defense based on evidence of the plaintiff’s familiarity and sophistication with copyright law enforcement. Michael Grecco Productions, Inc. (MGP) sued Davis in October 2021 alleging that Davis did not have a license to republish MGP’s photographs on Davis’ brand’s website and social media platform. MGP claims that Davis started using the photos in August 2017 but that the infringement was discovered in February 2021. The question presented before the Court is: “Whether a claim ‘accrue[s]’ under the Copyright Act’s statute of limitations for civil actions, 17 U.S.C. 507(b), when the infringement occurs (the ‘injury rule’) or when a plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered the infringement (the ‘discovery rule’).”

SCOTUS Denies Cert in ‘Success Kid’ Internet Meme Case: On January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in a case appealed by former Iowa Congressman Steve King, arising from a decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a jury verdict that stated King was liable for $750 over the unauthorized use of a photograph owned by Lainey Griner as part of a meme in King’s political campaign. The photograph in dispute, “Success Kid,” has been the subject of many internet memes, and features Griner’s son pumping his fist. The Eleventh Circuit held that the fair use test weighed “heavily” for Griner, noting that in applying the Andy Warhol Foundation Supreme Court decision under the first factor, there was no particularly compelling justification for King’s commercial use of the photograph for the meme, and that there was no new message or meaning conveyed.

SCOTUS Denies Cert in Standards Infringement Case: On January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in a case appealed by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), arising from a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled against CSA in its copyright infringement lawsuit against an individual, Gordon Knight, over his copying and sales of competing versions of seven of CSA’s standards and codes that had been fully incorporated by reference into Canadian law. Importantly, the Court of Appeals held that the holding in Veeck v. Southern Building Code Congress International, Inc. applied to CSA’s codes because they were developed for the purposes of being incorporated by reference into law and not “extrinsic standards,” which are developed by private groups for reasons other than incorporation into law.

Eighth Circuit Finds Real Estate Agents’ Use of Home Designs for Floor Plans Is Fair Use: On January 14, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion in Designworks Homes, Inc. v. Columbia House of Brokers Realty, Inc., finding that defendant real estate agents’ use of plaintiff architectural firm’s home designs to create floorplans for real estate listings qualified for the fair use exception. In weighing all four fair use factors in favor of the defendants, the court noted the informational purpose of the floorplans was transformative under the first fair use factor; and that under the fourth fair use factor, market harm to the plaintiff arising from the defendants’ use was too speculative.

Second Circuit Affirms Lower Court Ruling in Red Flag Knowledge Case: On January 13, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court decision in Capitol Records v. Vimeo, which held that online service provider, Vimeo, was entitled to the safe harbor provisions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) because it did not have actual or red flag knowledge of infringement or the right and ability to control infringing activities related to 281 videos containing record label plaintiffs’ songs. The Second Circuit stated the plaintiffs’ evidence failed to prove Vimeo’s red flag knowledge, including how the evidence failed to show that Vimeo employees had specialized knowledge of the music industry or that if there was specialized knowledge, that the employees knew the particular uses of the music in the infringing videos did not qualify for the fair use exception.

Anthropic Agrees to Implement Guardrails in Future AI Tools in Music Publishers’ Lawsuit: On January 2, the parties in Concord Music Group, Inc. v. Anthropic reached an agreement whereby Anthropic must maintain guardrails to prevent future AI tools from producing infringing material from copyrighted content. The music publishers originally filed the lawsuit against Anthropic in October 2023 over the alleged unlawful copying and distribution of plaintiffs’ music works, including lyrics, to develop Anthropic’s generative AI chatbot, Claude.

Court Rejects Meta’s Attempts to Seal Evidence Showing Use of Notorious Pirate Websites to Train AI: On January 8, the district court for the Northern District of California issued an order rejecting Meta’s request to redact significant portions of briefings in the Kadrey v. Meta case, stating that Meta’s request was “preposterous” and that the request was “designed to avoid negative publicity.” The Kadrey case is a class action lawsuit filed by authors against Meta over the unauthorized use of the authors’ literary works to train Meta’s LLaMA AI model. The court referenced a quote from a Meta employee that stated, “If there is media coverage suggesting we have used a dataset we know to be pirated, such as LibGen, this may undermine our negotiating position with regulators on these issues.” According to reports, unredacted documents from discovery show evidence that Meta employees engaged in torrenting activities that included uploading pirated files containing plaintiffs’ works to other torrent users.

UK Government Recommends TDM Exception in Copyright Act: On January 13, Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for the UK Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology, delivered a 50-point AI Opportunities Action Plan to the UK Parliament, which includes recommendations to the government to enact a copyright law exception for text and data mining for AI purposes to be at least as competitive as the European Union. The plan also calls for creating a copyright-cleared British media asset and training data set to license internationally at scale by partnering with institutions holding “valuable cultural data” such as the National Archives and the BBC.   

UK Parliament Votes to Strengthen Copyright in Ongoing AI-Related Legislation: On January 28, the House of Lords of the UK Parliament voted 145-126 across party lines in favor of copyright-friendly amendments to the Data (Use and Access) Bill, marking a setback for the UK Labour government’s overall plans to introduce exemptions in copyright law for AI use of creative works. The amendments were set forth by Baroness Kidron and backed by the Creative Rights in AI Coalition, and include training transparency requirements for AI companies and a private right of action for rights holders over the unlicensed use of their works for AI training.

EUIPO, EPO Study Shows Link Between IP Rights and Increased Employee Wages: On January 9, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) published the findings of a joint study showing that companies owning intellectual property rights generate 23.8% higher revenue per employee and pay wages that are 22.1% higher than average compared to non-IP-owning firms, with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular seeing 44% more revenue per employee associated with the ownership of IP rights.

Malaysian Government Reports 3,600 Illegal Websites Blocked Since 2021: On January 14, Malaysia’s Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali announced that, in collaboration with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs), a total of 3,682 illegal websites offering pirated films and music had been blocked from 2021 to 2024. Armizan also announced that KPDN introduced a Cyber Copyright Enforcement Program that brings together Malaysian government agencies, ISPs, and copyright owners in efforts to combat digital piracy.

GEMA Sues Suno Over Unlicensed Use of Songs to Train AI Music Generator: On January 21, German music royalties collecting society, GEMA, sued Suno in the Munich Regional Court over the unauthorized use of songs in GEMA’s repertoire to train Suno’s AI music generator. The lawsuit details that Suno’s AI generator is able to generate audio content “that is confusingly similar to the original songs,” including “Forever Young,” “Daddy Cool,” “Mambo No. 5,” and “Cheri Cheri Lady.”

South Korean Broadcasters File Copyright Infringement AI Lawsuit: On January 21, South Korea’s three major broadcasters, KBS, MBC, and SBS filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against major online platform, Naver, over the unauthorized use of the broadcasters’ news content to train Naver’s AI platforms, HyperCLOVA and HyperCLOVA X. In December, the broadcasters had sent infringement notices to other technology companies including Google Korea.

French Supreme Court Upholds Bank’s Right to Terminate Financial Services for Notorious Cyberlocker Website: On January 15, the French Supreme Court confirmed that French bank Société Générale was within its rights to terminate contracts with cyberlocker service, 1fichier.com, due to pervasive copyright infringement occurring on its services. The service has been listed on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Notorious Markets Report.

Dutch LLM GEITje-7B Taken Offline for Using Pirated Works: Dutch anti-piracy group, BREIN, announced that one of the largest Dutch generative AI LLMs, GEITje-7B, was taken offline. The model was trained on the Gigacorpus dataset, which includes tens and thousands of copies of pirated Dutch-language books including from the pirate website, Library Genesis, and on unlicensed texts copied from various news sites.

Indian Book Publishers Sue OpenAI: According to reports, the Federation of Indian Publishers, which includes Penguin Random House, Bloomsbury, Cambridge University Press, Pan Macmillan, Rupa Publishers, and S.Chand and Co., filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in December 2024 against OpenAI in New Delhi over the unlicensed use of the publishers’ books to train ChatGPT. A hearing in the case took place on January 28.

Additional Indian News Outlets Join Lawsuit Against OpenAI: According to reports additional digital news outlets in India, including the Indian Express and the Hindustan Times, are joining an ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit launched by Indian news outlet, ANI, against OpenAI over the unlicensed use of copyright protected works to train ChatGPT. OpenAI has reportedly opposed the news publishers’ bid to join the case.

Telegram Shuts Down Z-Library and Anna’s Archive Channels for Copyright Infringement: According to reports, messaging platform Telegram shut down channels for popular pirate eBooks websites, Anna’s Archive and Z-Library, over copyright infringement. Both websites have been repeatedly named in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Notorious Markets Lists for promoting and facilitating copyright piracy.

Telegram Suspends RuTracker Channel: According to reports, Telegram suspended a channel of the notorious Russian torrent website, RuTracker. The website’s Telegram channel now reportedly shows a message stating that the channel is unavailable due to copyright infringement.

OpenAI and Microsoft Investigate DeepSeek Over IP Theft Concerns: According to reports, OpenAI and Microsoft are investigating whether Chinese AI firm, DeepSeek, violated OpenAI’s terms and conditions and engaged in intellectual property (IP) theft of OpenAI’s proprietary AI models. OpenAI alleges that Chinese companies use a technique called “distillation,” a more efficient AI training process (not dissimilar to the ingestion of copyrighted works engaged in by OpenAI) where an AI model is trained on output generated by another model. The White House’s AI and Crypto Czar, David Sacks, also told Fox News outlet that “it’s possible” that the Chinese AI startup engaged in IP theft from OpenAI.

Axios and OpenAI Announce Partnership Deal: On January 15, Axios announced that it has entered a three-year agreement with OpenAI. The deal includes access to Axios news and media content to enhance answers for GPT Search and access to OpenAI technologies for Axios employees.

Bertelsmann and OpenAI Announce Partnership Deal: On January 22, media and publishing company, Bertelsmann, announced that it had struck a deal with OpenAI for a strategic collaboration to integrate ChatGPT across Bertelsmann’s international media, services, and education company businesses in the creation and distribution of video, audio, and text content.

Save the Date For…

CA Lawyers for the Arts Webinar on Legal Essentials for Creators: On February 12 from 12-1:15 p.m. PT, the California Lawyers for the Arts will host a webinar titled From Contracts to Cash Flow: Legal Essentials for Creator Success covering topics such as building a stable revenue stream, protecting creator works through copyright, brand agreements, and much more.

VLANY Webinar on Forming an Arts-related Non-Profit: On February 18 from 2-4 p.m. ET, the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts New York (VLANY) will host a webinar on forming an arts-related non-profit organization. The event will cover what a non-profit is, how and why to form one, as well as the legal, ethical, and financial obligations associated with creating one. The webinar is geared toward artists, attorneys, arts professionals, and all others who would like to start or learn more about running an arts non-profit organization.

USCO Copyright Essentials Webinars for Visual Artists and Photographers: On February 19 at 1 p.m. ET, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) will host a webinar titled Creativity in Focus: Copyright Essentials for Visual Artists and Photographers. The webinar will cover copyright essentials for visual artists and photographers, including topics such as the types of copyright-protected visual works, registration application options, and how the Office’s Public Information Office can help visual arts creators and photographers. A second webinar, titled Find Your Voice: Copyright Essentials for Musicians, will take place in April and cover similar information for music creators. A third webinar, titled The Plot Thickens: Copyright Essentials for Writers, will take place in August and be tailored for writers.

CCC Webinar on Copyright Basics for Medical Communications: On February 26 at 10 a.m. ET, the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) will host a webinar to explore copyright considerations when using published content in medical communications projects, including presentations, reference guides, and more. The session will cover compliance challenges, copyright basics, sharing content globally, copyright in the AI lifecycle​, and strategies for success. The event will conclude with a Q&A session.

CCC Webinar on Copyright at Work: On February 11 at 1 p.m. ET, Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) will host a webinar to assist attendees in learning about copyright law and to share why intellectual property should be respected and understood. The event hosts will answer copyright questions and share a general understanding of copyright compliance, including limitations and exceptions, copyright and the AI lifecycle, and strategies for success.

If you aren’t already a member of the Copyright Alliance, you can join today by completing our Individual Creator Members membership form! Members gain access to monthly newsletters, educational webinars, and so much more — all for free!

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