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November 5, 2026

Top Noteworthy Copyright Stories from October 2026

by Rachel Kim

October 2026 was a little quieter in terms of copyright-related activities overall, but the courts were busy as new AI copyright lawsuits were filed, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear two copyright-related cases, and over 50 amicus briefs were filed in the In re OpenAI Copyright Litigation case, including one by the Copyright Alliance. Here is an overview of key pieces of copyright news from October and a few events to look forward to in November.

USCO Publishes a Notice of Inquiry to Address Music Streaming Fraud: On October 7, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) published a notice of inquiry (NOI) soliciting information about issues related to music streaming fraud. The NOI responds to a letter from Representative Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) asking the Office to “examine the prevalence of streaming fraud across digital platforms and how it may be affecting the music industry as a whole.” The NOI lists ten specific questions covering topics such as various streaming fraud schemes, the projected economic impact, voluntary and statutory solutions, and ways that streaming fraud can be addressed by criminal enforcement. Initial comments are due November 23 and reply comments are due December 21.

USCO Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Tenth Triennial DMCA Section 1201 Exemptions: On October 28, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on temporary exemptions to permit certain instances of circumventing Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) that control access to copyrighted works under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The USCO intends to recommend renewing all existing exemptions, except for the medical device repair exemption, which received meaningful opposition. New and expanded exemptions cover: Audiovisual Works (Accessibility and Captioning, Criticism and Comment, Playback on Unsupported Devices, Replacement, Personal Playback, Public Domain Works); Computer Programs (Jailbreaking and Repair); and Video Games (Operating System Incompatibility and Network Play). Initial written comments from proponents and neutral parties providing feedback on proposed exemptions are due December 7, 2026; written response comments from opponents of a proposed exemption are due February 22, 2027; and written reply comments from proponents and neutral parties providing feedback on proposed exemptions are due March 22, 2027.

Twelve New AI Copyright Infringement Cases Filed in October

  • On October 2, a group of news publishers including Emmerich Newspapers, Ojai Media, and Coopwood Media Group filed a complaint against Microsoft and OpenAI in the Southern District of Mississippi over the unlicensed use of the plaintiffs’ news content to train OpenAI’s ChatGPT models. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement, and removal of Copyright Management Information (CMI).
  • On October 8, a group of news publishers, including USA Today, Gannett, Des Moines Register, Tribune Company, and others filed a complaint against OpenAI in the Southern District of New York over the unlicensed use of the plaintiffs’ news content to train OpenAI’s ChatGPT models. The complaint includes claims of copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement, and removal of Copyright Management Information (CMI).
  • On October 9, music licensing platform Jamendo, owned by Belgium-based Winamp Group, filed a notice to voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit against Nvidia over the unlicensed use of plaintiff’s musical works and sound recordings to train Nvidia’s AI audio models. Then, on October 12, Jamendo filed a new complaint against Nvidia that contains the same claims made in the previous lawsuit and also includes legal claims regarding Nvidia’s unauthorized use of the broader Jamendo Dataset, for which the U.S. Copyright Office issued a copyright registration certificate on July 10. The new complaint includes counts of copyright infringement, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and unfair competition.
  • On October 19, several groups of authors, including Robert Sheard, Tosca Reno, Jacqueline Winspear, Daniel José Older, and others, filed four separate complaints against Meta in the Northern District of California over the unlicensed use of the plaintiffs’ books to train Meta’s Llama and Muse AI models. The complaints include claims of direct copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, and the removal of Copyright Management Information (CMI). More than 200 authors are involved in the suits (with the total number of authors potentially reaching 1000 in the coming months according to plaintiffs’ counsel). These cases present a new approach to AI lawsuits. Prior to these cases, this type of suit would likely be filed as a class action.
  • On October 20, Poseidon Wave Media filed a complaint against Black Forst Labs (BFL) in the Eastern District of New York over the unlicensed use of the plaintiff’s sound recordings and compositions to train BFL’s FLUX AI model. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, circumvention of Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and trade secret violations.
  • On October 21, music publisher Reservoir Media filed a complaint against Anthropic over the unlicensed use of plaintiff’s musical works to train the Claude AI model. Plaintiff alleges that Anthropic sourced pirated and scraped copies of plaintiff’s musical works from various sources including by through The Pile dataset which includes a subset of copyrighted lyrics scraped by 173,536 YouTube channels. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, circumvention of Technological Protection Measures (TPMs), and removal or alternation of Copyright Management Information (CMI).
  • On October 21, music publisher Reservoir Media filed a complaint against Suno over the unlicensed use of plaintiff’s musical works and the sound recordings embodying those works to train Suno’s AI music model. The complaint mentions Suno’s loss in the AI copyright case filed against it by German collecting society GEMA, noting that the German lawsuit in addition to public reporting confirmed that Suno sourced training data by stream-ripping tracks on various paywalled and established music streaming platforms. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, circumvention of Technological Protection Measures (TPMs), and removal or alternation of Copyright Management Information (CMI).
  • On October 23, a group of independent music and entertainment companies filed a complaint against Anthropic over the unlicensed use of plaintiffs’ musical compositions including legendary hits like Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and other works to train the Claude AI model. Plaintiffs allege that Anthropic sourced pirated and scraped copies of plaintiff’s musical works from various sources including through The Pile dataset, which includes a subset of copyrighted lyrics scraped by 173,536 YouTube channels, the Pirate Library Mirror (PiLiMi), and The Way Back Machine operated by the Internet Archive. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, circumvention of Technological Protection Measures (TPMs), and removal or alternation of Copyright Management Information (CMI).
  • On October 30, regional news publisher Boone Newsmedia, Inc. filed a complaint against OpenAI and Microsoft over the unlicensed use of plaintiffs’ news articles to train ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement, and removal or alteration of Copyright Management Information (CMI).

Parties File Amicus Briefs in ‘In re OpenAI Copyright Infringement Litigation’: By October 30, interested parties submitted over fifty amicus briefs in the multidistrict AI copyright infringement case In re OpenAI Copyright Infringement Litigation. Parties that filed in support of plaintiff book authors’ and news publishers’ opposition to defendants’ motions for summary judgment include Ashley Judd; AI Rights Project; AI Startups; First Amendment Scholars; the Copyright Alliance; Association of American Publishers, Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), Independent Book Publishers Association, and the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers; Digital Content Next; SAG-AFTRA, American Federation of Musicians, Writers Guild of America, American Society of Media Photographers, American Literary Translators Association, The National Press Photographers Association, and other writers groups; Joseph Stiglitz; News/Media Alliance, National Newspaper Association, National Press Photographers Association, and Pro Publica Inc.; Open Markets Institute; PEN America; and William Morris Endeavor. Some of the briefs filed in support of neither party included: Copyright Law Professors; Members of Congress; Human Consent Foundation, Creative Artists Agency, Music Artists Coalition, National Association of Voice Actors, Writer Inc., Creators Coalition on Artificial Intelligence, Cate Blanchett, Nick Hexum, and Steven Soderbergh; and The Center for American Rights, Article III Project, Internet Accountability Project, the Bull Moose Project, Consumers for a Strong Economy, and Joel Thayer. A summary of a majority of these amicus briefs is available in this blog post.

SCOTUS Declines to Hear ‘Vetter v. Resnik’ Case After Justices’ Recusals; Fifth Circuit Ruling Stands: On October 19, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a cert petition by major record labels in BMG Rights Management v. Vetter challenging the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that termination rights under the U.S. Copyright Act will also re-capture foreign copyrights where the original grant of rights was for “worldwide” rights. The Court left the Fifth Circuit ruling intact after four Justices recused themselves. It is unknown why the Justices recused themselves but it is speculated that they did so because they each have international book publishing deals with Penguin Publishing, which is owned by the same parent company (Bertelsmann) as plaintiff BMG. Because the Court must have at least six Justices decide any case before it, the case could not be heard, and the Fifth Circuit decision was affirmed according to Court rules. This development results in the ability for copyright owners to terminate grant of global rights in the Fifth Circuit while leaving room for potential circuit splits if other lower courts rule differently in the future. More information is available in this blog post.

SCOTUS Declines to Hear Blackbeard Shipwreck Copyright Case: On October 19, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a cert petition in an appeal made by videographer Rick Allen and Nautilus Productions LLC of a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision that set aside a lower court order and blocked Allen from pursuing updated copyright and due process claims against the state of North Carolina for its unauthorized use of copyright-protected photos and video footage documenting Blackbeard’s shipwreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge. More information is available in this article.

Hearing on Summary Judgment Held in ‘Concord v. Anthropic’: On October 21, Judge Eumi Lee in the Northern District of California held a hearing on summary judgment and Daubert motions in Concord v. Anthropic, a case brought by a group of music publishers against Anthropic for the unauthorized copying and distribution of musical works, including lyrics, to develop Anthropic’s generative AI chatbot, Claude. Plaintiffs’ counsel was Matt Oppenheim of Copyright Alliance Legal Advisory Board member Oppenheimer + Zebrak. The hearing covered topics that Judge Lee raised in questions submitted to the parties in advance of the hearing including the liability and fair use implications surrounding derivative or “mashup” outputs and “synthetic” or new outputs, the liability of Anthropic and whether it engaged in volitional conduct or whether its users become liable when they enter a prompt, the role of deposit copies to prove infringement, and the applicability of copyright management information removal claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to AI-generated output to. Over the course of the four-hour hearing, Judge Lee asked few questions of either counsel but seemed most interested in hearing about different types of generative output and the surrounding infringement implications. 

Individual Involved in Streaming Fraud Scheme Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison: On October 6, Michael Smith was sentenced to 18 months in prison for collecting more than $8 million in royalties by using bots to stream AI-generated songs billions of times. Smith’s sentence was based on his guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. “Michael Smith exploited super intelligence technology to generate a fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. “By flooding music streaming platforms with automated bots in place of consumers, and fake songs in place of creativity, Smith robbed millions in royalty payments from genuine artists and their fans. This Office is committed to ensuring the integrity of all markets, and protecting the public from those who use super intelligence for fraud.”

Reps. Cline and Kamlager-Dove Introduce Bill to Reform Copyright Registration for Visual Artists: On October 19, Representatives Ben Cline (R-VA) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) introduced H.R.10843, the Visual Artists Copyright Reform Act of 2026 (VACRA), which is the House companion bill to S. 3517, the Visual Artists Copyright Reform Act of 2025 (VACRA). The bill would: (i) amend the Copyright Act to exempt pictorial, graphic, and sculptural (PGS) works from the Section 407 best edition deposit requirement and allow for the deposit of one digital copy for pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works to satisfy the Section 408(b) registration requirement; (ii) allow for third-party entities to create registries of photographs that may be certified by the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) and clarify that a photograph that is submitted to the registry would also satisfy the Section 408(b) deposit copy requirement; (iii) create a group registration of photographs option at “quantity tiers” that would permit up to 3,000 photographs to be registered at once without regard to publication status, publication date, or date of creation; (iv) create a deferred registration examination system for PGS works and direct the USCO to implement a “contemporary public facing interface” to facilitate the transfer of metadata of copyrighted works to populate a copyright registration form; and (v) direct the USCO to implement regulations for small business entity fees and a subscription model for registrations of pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works.

Sens. Blackburn and Schiff Send Letters to Mark Zuckerberg Decrying Meta’s Broad Changes to Its TOS: On October 23, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg expressing “serious concern” over Meta’s updated Terms of Service (TOS) that had initially sought to grant Meta the right to scrape any website associated with users who had business accounts on Meta’s platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. Senator Blackburn noted that Meta’s subsequent revision of the new TOS were also unsatisfactory because they still allow Meta to scrape external websites to use in development of Meta’s business products. The letter concludes by stating, “American creators and small businesses are not a free source of content for Meta to exploit, and they deserve to know exactly how their work is being collected and used. Meta’s updated Commercial Terms raise serious questions about the company’s respect for the businesses and creators that make its platforms valuable. Meta must withdraw the updated Commercial Terms and come to the table to protect the content of creators and publishers across the country.” On October 24, Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressing concern over the “extraordinary” updates to Meta’s TOS, urging the company to not move forward with the updates, and to “immediately halt any effort to condition platform access on the extraction of external intellectual property (IP).” The letter also urges that Meta “provide explicit guarantees that external technical boundaries like paywalls and robots.txt protocols will be fully respected, and ensure that no business is forced to sacrifice its proprietary content simply to operate on [Meta] platforms.”

Comments Submitted to USTR for the 2026 Notorious Markets Review of Counterfeiting and Piracy: On October 7, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) received 29 comments in response to its 2026 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, the annual list that identifies online and physical markets that engage in or facilitate substantial copyright piracy or trademark counterfeiting. Commenters include the Association of American Publishers (AAP), Entertainment Software Association (ESA), Motion Picture Association (MPA), and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). AAP’s comments focus on the counterfeit book market but also highlight the growing concerns of repositories of pirated publishing works, particularly for use in training generative AI models listing websites like Anna’s Archive. ESA’s comments urge USTR to act against ongoing piracy threats from emulation device retailers and sites that bypass PC game protections. MPA reports that Cineby and AnimeFLV have shut down since the last report because of tireless enforcement efforts but urges the USTR to target other major piracy sites such as Kisskh and dozens more. RIAA’s comments focus on counterfeit CDs and vinyls manufactured and sold out of Chinese and Russian markets in addition to ongoing pervasive digital piracy through various methods like stream ripping on websites such as Y2mate and ThePirateBay. Rebuttal comments were due October 21.

Trump Signs American Music Tourism Act into Law: On October 9, President Trump signed the American Music Tourism Act S.195 into law. The bill would require that the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) promote domestic and international tourism to U.S. music festivals, concert venues, and other music-related and sports attractions. The legislation has received bipartisan support and endorsements from various music industry organizations.

Canadian News Publishers Sue Anthropic: According to reports, on October 6, Canadian news publishers including The Globe and Mail, Torstar, Postmedia, and The Canadian Press sued Anthropic in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice over the unlicensed use of the news publishers works to train the Claude AI model. In addition to copyright infringement claims, the news publishers are claiming Anthropic is liable for circumventing Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) such as paywalls.

UK Competition Authority Launches Investigation Into Meta Over Updates to TOS: On October 30, UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Meta’s proposed updates to its Terms of Service (TOS). CMA will examine whether the technology company’s updates to its TOS would impose exploitative terms on publishers and advertisers as the changes would allow Meta to use content from the websites of Meta business account users to develop Meta products and services, including its AI features.

Norwegian Publishers Sue Meta Over Updated TOS; Court Grants Preliminary Injunction: On October 27, a group of ten Norwegian media publishers sued Meta in the Oslo District Court, asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent Meta from implementing updates to its Terms of Service (TOS) pending the court ruling on whether the updates are legal. Plaintiffs raised that rights reservations must be enforceable and that any use of the plaintiffs’ works for AI purposes must be subject to separate agreements. On October 28, the court granted the news media publishers’ request.

WIPO Global Forum on IP and AI: From November 9-10, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will host a Global Forum on IP and AI covering AI-related legal and policy IP issues and the impact of AI on innovation and creativity. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage in discussions on the development of AI and how it is reshaping IP. More information is available on the registration page.

WIPO 2026 AIII Annual Meeting: On November 11, WIPO will bring the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Interchange (AIII) community together for its annual meeting where participants will hear from the Technical Exchange Network’s four focus groups: industry workflows, common lexicon, metadata framing, and AI-generated content taxonomy. Participants are invited to contribute to the discussion of the technical infrastructure required to support creativity and innovation in this era of AI. More information is available on the registration page.

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