Blogs
April 1, 2025

March 2025 Roundup of Copyright News

by Rachel Kim

In March, the Copyright Office launched its study of the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) while in the courts, key copyright and AI cases continued to move forward. Here is a quick snapshot of some of copyright-related activities that occurred during the month of March as well as a few events to look forward to in April.

Copyright Alliance Activities

Copyright Alliance Blogs: The Copyright Alliance published several blog posts in March:

  • We published a blog post on outrage from the global creative community on AI and copyright issues.
  • In celebration of Women’s History Month 2025, we highlight in this blog post women attorneys who have been legal champions of the creative community.
  • Copyright Alliance COO Eileen Bramlet penned this blog post highlighting what members of the global creative community have been saying about copyright in the context of generative AI.

Copyright Alliance Submits Comments to OSTP on AI Action Plan: On March 14, the Copyright Alliance submitted comments in response to a request for information (RFI) published by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), requesting input on priority actions that should be included in the Administration’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan. The comments urge that the AI Action Plan be developed with a respect for and recognition of longstanding copyright laws and policies that make America the global leader in the creative and digital industries. They also warn that no policy should be adopted that interferes with the free market and the freedom of copyright owners and generative AI companies and developers to enter into licensing agreements.

USCO Solicits Comments on CCB Operations: On March 10, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) published a notice of inquiry (NOI) and request for comments to inform the Office’s study on the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) and its operations. The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act requires the Office to complete a study within three years of the CCB’s first final determination. The NOI contains ten questions about various CCB operations and procedures and whether modifications to the statute, regulations, or other procedures are desirable. Comments must be submitted by May 9. Reply comments are due June 23.

Emily Chapuis Appointed Acting GC and Associate Register of Copyrights: On March 13, Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter announced that Emily Chapuis will serve as Acting General Counsel (GC) and Associate Register of Copyrights, assuming the role filled by Suzanne “Suzy” Wilson for three years before she left the Copyright Office on March 7th.

USCO Grants Registration for AI-Generated Video Based on Editing: According to reports, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) granted a registration for an AI-generated motion picture, titled Film clip for song just Like In A Movie (SNEAK PREVIEW), which covers the lyrics and editing of AI-generated footage. The decision is in line with the Office’s prior statements, including its most recent AI report that notes the scope of registration for works containing AI-generated elements could protect creative selection, coordination, and arrangement (SCA) of such elements or creative modifications (including through human editing) to AI-generated output.

Executive Branch Activities

USTR Publishes 2025 Trade Policy Agenda and 2024 Annual Report: At the end of February, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published its 2025 Trade Policy Agenda and 2024 Annual Report, which outlines the Administration’s Trade Policy Agenda. In the Intellectual Property section of the report, the USTR identifies copyright piracy as an issue in foreign countries as it threatens U.S. exports in media and other creative works. The report also highlights the success and summary of the USTR’s activities in the Special 301 process.

Trump Nominates John Squires for USPTO Director Role: On March 10, the Senate Judiciary Committee received President Trump’s nomination of John Squires to be the next Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Squires is currently the Chair of the Emerging Companies and IP practice at Dilworth Paxson and former Chief IP Counsel at Goldman Sachs. He was also a partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Perkins Coie.

AI Companies File Comments to OSTP on AI Action Plan: Recently, various journalists and authors issued statements and written articles strongly condemning proposals by companies like Google, OpenAI, and Andreessen Horowitz that ask the Trump administration to adopt broad fair use exemptions for the training of generative AI systems on copyrighted materials. The comments were submitted to the Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) in response to its Request for Information (RFI) regarding the development of the Administration’s AI Action Pla). Among other things, the statements and articles from writers and reporters including Brian Merchant, Theodore McKenzie, David Newhoff, and Jason Kint call out the AI companies for using the specter of Chinese AI advancement as a reason for doing away with U.S. copyright protections.

Legislative Activities

Rep. Issa Holds Judicial Blocking Roundtable: On March 26, Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) held an invite-only roundtable on the issue of judicial blocking of piracy-dedicated foreign websites. The roundtable was smaller and more focused than the previous session hosted earlier this year in Los Angeles, CA. While opponents of judicial blocking who participated in the roundtable attempted to argue that site blocking is not effective and leads to over-blocking of legitimate sites, those points were largely refuted by the data raised by other participants, as well as the mitigation measures and safeguards that would be contained in the bill. Issa signaled that this would be the final judicial blocking roundtable, and that he expects to introduce legislation soon.

California AI Transparency Bill Advances: On March 19,state lawmakers in California advanced a bill that would require generative AI companies to make public which copyright protected works they used to train their AI models. The California Assembly’s Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection voted 10-to-3 to send the bill (AB 412) to the House Judiciary Committee.

Authors’ Class-Action AI Lawsuit Against Meta Proceeds as Court Allows DMCA Claims to Proceed and Parties File Cross Motions for Partial Summary Judgment: On March 7, the district court for the Northern District of California granted in part and denied in part Meta’s motion to dismiss claims in the class-action lawsuit launched against it by a group of authors, including Richard Kadrey and Sarah Silverman, over the unlicensed use of literary works to train Meta’s large language model, Llama. The court permitted the authors’ claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) over the removal of Copyright Management Information (CMI) to proceed in the case. On March 19, plaintiff authors in the case filed a motion for partial summary judgment asking the court to rule in its favor on copyright infringement and that the infringement is not excused under fair use. On March 25, Meta filed its own motion for partial summary judgment asking the court to find that the tech company’s unlicensed use of plaintiffs’ copyrighted works to train its AI model qualifies for the fair use exception.

Appeals Court Affirms Registration Denial of Work ‘Authored’ by AI: On March 18, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion in Thaler v. Perlmutter, affirming a district court’s decision (which affirmed the decision by the U.S. Copyright Office) denying Thaler’s copyright registration of a work that named a generative AI machine as the author. The decision makes clear that non-humans cannot be the recognized author of a copyrighted work because the Copyright Act requires all eligible work to be authored in the first instance by a human being. It goes on to say that because of that finding, the court need not address the Copyright Office’s argument that the Constitution itself requires human authorship of all copyrighted material. Finally, the decision explains that it need not address Thaler’s argument that he is the work’s author by virtue of making and using the Creativity Machine because that argument was waived from the outset by listing the Creativity Machine as the author in the registration.

ISP Petitions SCOTUS to Review Contributory Liability Standards: On March 6, Internet Service Provider (ISP) Grande Communications filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS), asking it to review a Fifth Circuit decision that found it contributorily liable for the infringing acts of its subscribers. The case was brought by Universal Music Group (UMG) and other record labels against Grande in 2017, accusing it, among other things, of failing to implement an effective repeat infringer policy that would address blatant subscriber infringement of sound recordings. In 2022, a federal jury in Texas returned a verdict finding Grande liable for contributory infringement, and the verdict was subsequently affirmed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (although a new trial was ordered to determine how damages should be calculated). In the Supreme Court petition, Grande asks the high court to determine “[w]hether an ISP is liable for contributory copyright infringement by (i) providing content-neutral internet access to the general public; and (ii) failing to terminate that access after receiving two third-party notices alleging someone at a customer’s IP address has infringed.”

Preliminary Injunction Denied in Concord v. Anthropic AI Case: On March 25, Judge Eumi Lee in the Northern District of California issued an order denying a group of music publisher plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary and permanent injunction in their ongoing copyright infringement case against large language model developer Anthropic. The case, Concord Music Group, Inc., et al. v. Anthropic PBC, was brought by a group of music publishers in 2023 against Anthropic, alleging that Anthropic unlawfully copied and distributed plaintiffs’ musical works, including lyrics, to develop the company’s generative AI chatbot, Claude. Because of a previously reached agreement between the parties, the scope of the injunction was narrowed to input-based infringement. Denying the motion for injunction, Judge Lee said the scope of the injunction had shifted over time and that the details “remain elusive and poorly defined.” Specifically, the order says that the plaintiffs have not made clear whether the works Anthropic would be prohibited from using are the 500 at issue in the case, all of the hundreds of thousands of songs in the publishers’ catalogues, or something in between—which Judge Lee explained raises enforcement and manageability concerns.

Anthropic Moves for Summary Judgment in Authors AI Class Action Lawsuit: On March 27, AI company, Anthropic filed a motion for summary judgment in Bartz v. Anthropic, the class-action lawsuit filed against the AI company by a group of authors over the unlicensed use of literary works to train the AI model, Claude. Anthropic is asking the court to grant summary judgment in the AI company’s favor and to hold that its infringing use of plaintiffs’ books to train its large language models qualifies for the fair use exception.

Ninth Circuit Affirms First Sale Principles in Resale of DVD Case: On March 10, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling in Zorikova v. Kineticflix noting the word “dispose” regarding the first sale doctrine under Section 109 of the Copyright Act did not exclude the ability of Kineticflix, a mail-order DVD rental company, to rent physical DVDs of plaintiff Zorikova’s instructional ballet video. The court also rejected the plaintiff’s argument that the interactive computer program features of the video as embodied in the DVD was a type of computer software not subject to the first sale doctrine, noting that the statute plainly states that the computer program exemption does not apply to computer software that is embodied in a machine or product that cannot be copied during the ordinary operation or use of the machine or product.

Danish Rights Alliance Releases Report on Pirated Content Used to Train AI: The Danish Rights Alliance released a document titled Report on Pirated Content Used to Train AI. The report gives an overview of the pervasiveness of AI companies taking pirated copies of copyright-protected works to train AI and examines the illegal file-sharing websites associated with the sourcing and distribution channels for popular datasets. The report highlights AI companies that have sourced from and used AI training datasets containing pirated copies of creative works, including Apple, Anthropic, Deepseek, Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Runway AI, and Suno.

Musician Jimmy Page Protests UK Government Actions to Undermine Copyright Law: On March 1, Led Zeppelin guitarist, Jimmy Page, protested actions within the UK government to undermine copyright law via AI exceptions, stating, “When AI scrapes the vast tapestry of human creativity to generate content, it often does so without consent, attribution, or compensation. This is not innovation; it’s exploitation. If, during my session days, someone had taken my riffs without acknowledgment or payment, it would have been deemed theft. The same standard must apply to AI…In defending the sanctity of human creativity against the encroachment of AI, we safeguard not just the rights of artists, but the very soul of our cultural heritage.”

French Publishers and Authors File AI Lawsuit Against Meta: On March 12, three organizations representing French publishers and authors, the National Publishing Union (SNE), the National Union of Authors and Composers (SNAC) and the Society of Men of Letters (SGDL), announced that earlier in the week they filed a complaint against Meta in a Parisian court over the mass unlicensed use of copyrighted works to train Meta’s generative AI model.

EU Releases Latest Draft of AI Act Code of Practice: On March 11, the European Commission released a third draft of its General-Purpose AI Code of Practice that provides additional details about transparency and copyright obligations for all providers of general-purpose AI models, with exemptions from transparency obligations for providers of certain open-source models. The draft specifies that signatories to the Code of Practice should not circumvent technological protection measures that protect access to copyrighted works. It also states that signatories will employ robots.txt web crawlers and “make best efforts” to identify and comply with “other appropriate machine-readable protocols.” The draft template in the transparency report, which is meant to further detail what constitutes “sufficiently detailed summaries” of copyrighted works used to train generative AI models, currently requires high-level information such as general disclosure of sourcing of copyrighted works used for AI training and data curation methodologies.

EU Parliament to Draft Report on GAI Impact on Copyright: According to reports, the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament requested a report to examine the impact of generative AI (GAI) on copyright. The report, titled Copyright and Generative AI: Opportunities and Challenges, will be drafted by Axel Voss (Germany/EPP) and will not be legally binding.

French Supreme Court Affirms File-Hosting Service Is Liable for Failing to Remove Pirated Copies of Video Games: On February 26, the French Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling that French file-hosting service 1fichier is liable for failing to remove pirated copies of Nintendo’s video games after the video game company sent notices of the infringements. 1fichier had appealed the ruling, arguing that the lower court’s order to remove or block access to the infringing content was prohibited and that there was insufficient information in Nintendo’s takedown notices about the infringing users. The French Supreme Court rejected both arguments by clarifying that because the infringing 1fichier uploader is considered to be the original pirate of the work, Nintendo’s notices contained sufficient information as required by the law and that service providers like 1fichier may be required to take specific actions in response to valid notices sent by rights holders.

Performing Arts Organizations Warn UK Government Against AI Copyright Exemptions: On March 18, it was reported that a group of 30-plus performing arts leaders in the United Kingdom, including the heads of the National Theatre, Opera North and the Royal Albert Hall, issued a statement warning the UK government not to allow AI companies to use artists’ works without permission. The statement urges the UK government not to adopt copyright law exemptions for AI training that would threaten creators’ livelihoods and undermine their ability to participate in the development and deployment of AI. The statement also criticizes “opt out” proposals, describing them as “unfair and impractical,” and asks the government to impose transparency requirements on AI companies, detailing the copyrighted material that was ingested into their models and how they acquired it.

Creators Petition UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport to Take Action Against Meta for Use of Pirated Works to Train AI: The Society of Authors initiated a petition directed to the Rt Hon Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport demanding that Meta be held accountable by the UK government for the unlicensed and uncompensated use of authors’ works to train Meta’s AI model. The petition, which has been signed so far by Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, Sir Tom Stoppard, and others, mentioned an article in The Atlantic that details Meta’s use of pirate eBook repositories, including Library Genesis, to train the AI model Llama 3.

French Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Enhance Website Blocking of Pirate Sports Broadcasts: According to reports, French lawmakers, including Senators Michel Savin and Laurent Lafon, introduced a bill that seeks to enhance real-time website blocking for pirated broadcasts of sporting events with criminal penalties and fines for certain activities related to the pirating of live sports broadcasts.

Entertainment Industry Professionals Urge Administration Not to Grant AI Copyright Exemptions: On March 15, a group of entertainment industry professionals—including cinematographers, directors, producers, actors, writers, studios, production companies, musicians, composers, costume, sound technicians, production designers, editors, gaffers, union and Academy Members—sent an open letter to the Trump Administration urging the government to uphold copyright laws that apply to artificial intelligence. Stressing that America’s global AI leadership must not come at the expense of the creative industries, the letter explains that America’s global cultural leadership “stems directly from our fundamental respect for IP and copyright that rewards creative risk-taking by talented and hardworking Americans from every state and territory.” To maintain such leadership, the letter asks that the Administration uphold existing copyright frameworks and respect the negotiation of licensing agreements among copyright owners and AI developers.

CCC to Launch New AI Systems Training License: On March 4, Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) announced a new AI Systems Training License that will be made available later in 2025. The voluntary, non-exclusive collective license permits licensees to use third-party works to train AI systems as well as the external use and certain outputs from trained models.

News/Media Alliance Launches AI Licensing Partnership with ProRata AI: On March 26, the News/Media Alliance (N/MA) announced that it has launched an AI licensing framework agreement with ProRata AI, whereby N/MA members can participate in a licensing agreement for use of the Gist.AI product. Under the framework, ProRata’s attribution technology will identify when publishers’ works are used in generative AI answers, attribute information to them, and compensate them for use of those works. ProRata will also pay 50% of all revenues from Gist.AI to publishers.

RIAA Releases 2024 Year-End Revenue Report: On March 18, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) released its 2024 Year-End Revenue Report, which “reflects sustained and continued growth in recorded music, now valued at $17.7 billion retail and $11.3 billion wholesale.” Further, in 2024, for the first time ever, paid streaming subscriptions hit 100 million in the U.S. “The digital milestone represents the largest source of revenue—coupled with vinyl’s nearly two-decade resurgence and emerging partnerships—and shows the variety of ways fans are interacting with music.” In a statement about the report, RIAA Chairman & CEO Mitch Glazier noted, “Twenty years into the streaming era, over 100 million paid subscriptions now deliver two-thirds of industry revenues, a historic milestone powering America’s music economy forward.”

Save the Date For…

CPMC Meeting: On April 3 at 1 p.m. ET, the Library of Congress (LOC) will host the next meeting of the Copyright Public Modernization Committee (CPMC). This session will be the second meeting of the second term of the CPMC, and will highlight results from the limited pilot of the new Enterprise Copyright System (ECS) standard application and group registration functionalities. Attendees will also see a demonstration of the responsive design features in the new Copyright Public Records System (CPRS). This virtual meeting is open to the public and advance registration is required.

VLANY Webinar on Protecting Creators in the Age of AI: On April 3 from 5-6 p.m. ET, the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts New York (VLANY) will host a virtual session on how creators can ensure they are protected in the age of AI, led by IP attorney Danielle S. Van Lier, Principal at Van Lier Law. The presentation will provide “crucial insights into the legal landscape of AI, with a special focus on performers’ rights and protections.”

CLA Event on Copyright for Musicians: On April 3 from 6-7 p.m. PT, the California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA) will host an in-person event titled Copyright for Musicians, which will include an overview of copyright law and the significance and benefits of registering works for copyright protection. The presenter will also take the audience through the copyright registration process to serve as a hands-on overview and tutorial. 

CCC Virtual Town Hall: ‘Fair and Ethical LLMs: Advantages and Feasibility for Businesses’: On April 8 at 10 a.m. ET, the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) will host a virtual town hall on LinkedIn Live, titled Fair and Ethical LLMs: Advantages and Feasibility for Businesses. The discussion will center around “why responsible AI is not just a moral imperative but a strategic business advantage.” Thought leaders in AI governance, licensing, and technology, Ed Newton-Rex and Jillian Bommarito, “will explore how ethical LLM training reduces legal risks, enhances brand reputation, and supports the sustainability of the AI ecosystem.” The event moderator will be Roanie Levy, Licensing and Legal Advisor, CCC.

GIPC Global IP Summit: On April 9 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. ET, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) will host the Global IP Summit. The event will feature speakers from academia, the private sector, government, and more, who will dive into critical IP issues. A highlight of the summit will be a discussion of the Chamber’s upcoming IP Jobs Report, which highlights the impact of the IP industry on state economies. The panel will use the report’s data to explore the role of IP in driving job creation, economic growth, and innovation.

WALA and George Mason University Legal Clinic on AI and Copyright Law: On April 15, from 2-3 p.m. ET, the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts (WALA) and George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School will host a virtual legal clinic titled Artificial Intelligence, Copyright Law, and the Artist. The discussion will provide an opportunity for attendees to learn about AI and copyright basics, and to hear how AI is changing the landscape for creators. Questions can be submitted in advance of the event.

USCO Webinar on Copyright for Musicians: On April 16 at 1 p.m. ET, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) announced it will host the second webinar in a three-part series, titled Find Your Voice: Copyright Essentials for Musicians. The Copyright Office designed the event for music creators, including performers and songwriters, to share copyright information that musicians should know—from the difference between musical works and sound recordings to registration application options and how the Office’s Public Information Office can help. The third session will occur in August and address related topics for writers.

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