Blogs
May 1, 2025

Top 10 Noteworthy Copyright Stories in April 2025

by Rachel Kim

In April, the Copyright Alliance and Association of American Publishers (AAP) held an all-day event on the importance of human creativity in the age of artificial intelligence and we joined the rest of the creative community celebrating World IP Day 2025, by highlighting the important role that music plays in our society and how copyright works to incentivize and protect music creativity. In the courts last month, the Copyright Alliance, and others, filed an amicus brief in the Kadrey v. Meta case and a new lawsuit was filed against an AI company over the unlicensed use of copyrighted works. Here is a quick snapshot of those and the other top 10 noteworthy copyright news stories (in chronological order) from April 2025.

Ross Intelligence Files Petition for Interlocutory Appeal in AI Case

On April 3, the court in the AI case Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence, granted defendant Ross’s motion for interlocutory appeal to the Third Circuit on two questions: (1) whether the Westlaw headnotes and Key Number system are original under copyright law; and (2) whether Ross’ use of the headnotes qualifies for the fair use exception. Thomson Reuters had sued Ross Intelligence, a competitor legal research service, for copyright infringement, alleging that Ross obtained copyrighted legal content from a Westlaw subscriber to develop its own competing product based on machine learning. In February, the court had found that the Westlaw headnotes are copyrightable and rejected Ross’ fair use defense. In explaining his decision to certify the two key questions in the case, Judge Bibas noted that although he remained confident of the February decision, he “recognize[d] that there are substantial grounds for difference of opinion on controlling legal issues in this case. On April 14, Ross Intelligence filed a petition for the certification of an interlocutory appeal to challenge the district court’s findings on copyrightability and fair use.

Library of Congress Hosts Second CPMC Meeting

On April 3, the Library of Congress hosted the second meeting of the Copyright Public Modernization Committee (CPMC). Register Perlmutter provided opening remarks, noting that significant work has been completed on the registration component of the Enterprise Copyright System (ECS). She also shared that there has been positive feedback from the limited pilot testing of the new standard registration application, and that the Office is working on implementing feedback. Lastly, Register Perlmutter said that the new copyright public records system will be available in June. Associate Register Rob Kasunic spoke about the positive feedback from the limited pilot testing sessions, noting that further user testing will be conducted to improve the new standard registration application. The meeting also featured a demonstration of the new copyright public records system.

On April 4, a judge in the Southern District of New York issued an order denying motions by OpenAI and Microsoft to dismiss direct and contributory infringement claims, state and federal trademark dilution claims, and DMCA 1202(b)(1) claims (against OpenAI in the Daily News and Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) actions), in a consolidated case involving the New York Times (NYT), the Daily News, and the CIR. The case date back to 2023 when the New York Times filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging direct, vicarious, and contributory copyright infringement, removal of copyright management information (CMI) under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and other claims over the unlicensed copying and use of NYT’s works to train ChatGPT.

On April 8, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Copyright Alliance—in collaboration with the Authors Guild, News/Media Alliance, National Association of Music Publishers (NMPA), and Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI)—co-hosted an event titled The Story Starts with Us: Protecting Human Creativity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. During the event, speakers and panelists discussed the essential role of human authorship and creative expression in the age of AI for publishers, writers, and all other creative genres. The forum also focused on major issues of policy, practice, and ethics for AI and copyright law, from ingestion of creative works to the public deployment of tools and regenerated content. Congresswoman Deborah Ross (D-NC) and Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) both provided comments during the event, with Senator Welch delivering the event’s opening remarks, followed by AAP President and CEO Maria Pallante’s remarks.

House Committee on Appropriations Holds LOC Budget Hearing

On April 8, the House Committee on Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee held a hearing titled Budget Hearing—Architect of the Capitol and Library of Congress. Witnesses included Thomas E. Austin, Architect, U.S. Capitol; Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress (LOC); Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights and Director, U.S. Copyright Office; Karen E. Donfried, Director, Congressional Research Service; and Robert R. Newlen, Interim Principal Deputy Librarian of Congress. For fiscal year 2026, the Library of Congress requested $946.2 million for modernization and digital upgrades. Testimony and member questions focused on the LOC’s digital transformation strategy, cybersecurity readiness, workforce capacity, and copyright modernization efforts. Dr. Hayden testified during the hearing, noting accelerated development of the Copyright Office’s Enterprise Copyright System (which is projected to cost $6.8 million over three years), noting that “recent stakeholder concerns involving technological demands and Congressional focus make it imperative to more quickly address the limitations of the existing online copyright registration system.”

Creative Community Files Amicus Briefs in Kadrey v. Meta AI Case

On April 11, the Copyright Alliance, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), a group of Intellectual Property (IP) professors, the International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers, and others filed amicus briefs in the Kadrey v. Meta class-action lawsuit filed by a group of authors against the tech company over the unlicensed use of literary works to train the Llama AI model. The Copyright Alliance’s amicus brief explains that Meta’s unauthorized use of copyrighted literary works to train its Llama large language model is not for a transformative purpose, but even if it were, a finding of transformativeness does not control the fair use analysis. The brief goes on to distinguish the fair use cases Meta relies upon and makes clear that they have been significantly undermined by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Warhol v. Goldsmith.

On April 14, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) received nearly 5,000 comments in response to its notice of inquiry (NOI) on PRO issues and the Copyright Act’s public performance right for musical works. Numerous Copyright Alliance members submitted comments, including A2IM, ASCAP, Artists Rights Alliance, BMI, GMR, MAC, NAB, NMPA, SESAC, and SONA. The Copyright Alliance also submitted comments, which highlighted the critical role of PROs in the public performance licensing space for musical works and noted that no changes in copyright law are needed to address issues raised in the NOI. Reply comments are due by May 27.

On April 24, Ziff Davis, the parent company of IGN, Mashable, CNET, and many other online publications, filed a complaint against OpenAI in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware for copyright infringement, claiming the AI company used its copyright protected works without authorization to train ChatGPT and that the large language model (LLM) generated verbatim and near verbatim copies of the Plaintiffs’ works. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement for both the reproduction of the Plaintiffs’ works to train ChatGPT and the reproduction of works in the output of ChatGPT, which the complaint explains accesses the Plaintiffs’ works through retrieval augmented generation (RAG). Also included are claims for contributory infringement (for end-user direct infringement), DMCA violations related to the circumvention of technical measures under Section 1201(A)(1), the removal of copyright management information (CMI) under Section 1202(b)(1), and the distribution of works with CMI removed under Section 1202(b)(3).

USTR Publishes 2025 Special 301 Report

On April 29, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published the 2025 Special 301 Report, which is the Administration’s annual review of the global state of Intellectual Property (IP) protection and enforcement. Eight countries are on the Priority Watch List: Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, and Venezuela. USTR also moved Mexico from the Watch List to the Priority Watch List and removed Turkmenistan from the Watch List. More information is available in USTR’s press release.

On April 29, the Copyright Alliance held an in-person World IP Day panel in keeping with the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) 2025 theme, IP and Music: Feel the Beat of IP, in conjunction with the Creative Rights Caucus (CRC) and numerous organizations. The panel was titled The Journey of Music: From the Human Heart to the Human Ear. Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) delivered opening remarks on behalf of the CRC, and Congressman Ben Cline (R-VA) provided remarks during the event. The panel discussion took attendees through how creativity and innovation, supported by copyright, keep music pulsing through our lives. The expert panel included Maimouna Youssef (Mumu Fresh), Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter; Todd Dupler, Chief Advocacy and Public Policy Officer, Recording Academy; Patrick Amory, President, Matador Records; Ashley Irwin, President, Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) and Emmy Award winner; Charlie Sanders, music industry attorney; and Shannon Sorensen, National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) SVP, Business and Legal Affairs. The panel was moderated by Miriam Lord, Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Public Information and Education at the U.S. Copyright Office.

Here are a few copyright-related events to look forward to and important deadlines to keep in mind for the month of May.

Deadline to Submit Comments to USCO NOI on CCB Operations: On May 9 is the deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Copyright Office in response to its notice of inquiry (NOI) and request for comments to inform the Office’s study on the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) and its operations. Reply comments are due June 23.

CCC Webinar on the Hidden Risks of Employee AI Use and Protecting Your Business: On May 14 at 11 a.m. ET, Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) is hosting a webinar on the hidden risks of employees using AI tools (referred to as “Shadow AI”) and how organizations can protect themselves. The session will unpack the real risks that business leaders need to know, from employees unknowingly misusing copyrighted content to AI-generated errors leading to legal issues, along with how to establish responsible AI practices.

VLANY Art & AI Event: On May 15 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. ET, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts New York (VLANY) will hold an in-person event titled Art & AI: Who Owns Creativity? The event will cover the complex legal and ethical challenges that have been introduced into the creative industries by artificial intelligence (AI), as well as the evolving role of AI in the arts. Topics will include fair use, training data, copyrightability, and market disruption. Panelists will also discuss how artists are using AI, the legal risks involved, remedies, and what emerging legislation means for creators.

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!

get blog updates