Blogs
September 1, 2026

Top Noteworthy Copyright Stories from August 2026

by Rachel Kim

August 2026 was marked by a great deal of global copyright activities and news. First, U.S. courts continued to see new AI copyright lawsuits being filed, mostly by music publishers; and the Fifth Circuit issued a new rule in analyzing infringement of the public display right. Here is an overview of key pieces of copyright news from August.

USCO Publishes Final Rule Updating Definition of News Website for Group Registration Option: On August 13, the U.S. Copyright Office published its final rule amending the definition of a “news website” under the regulations governing the group registration option for updates to news websites. The new definition clarifies that the updated definition reflects that: “(1) a news website can cover a variety of subjects, (2) the primary function of the website must be to report on current events, and (3) the news content must be updated frequently. All other aspects of the final rule published in July 2024 remain unchanged.” The final rule went into effect immediately.

Six New AI Copyright Infringement Cases Filed in August

  • On August 14, a group of textbook authors filed a class action lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft over the unlicensed use of plaintiffs’ textbooks to train OpenAI’s GPT models. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement against Microsoft, contributory copyright infringement, and removal of Copyright Management Information (CMI).
  • On August 17, Round Hill Music filed a complaint against Suno and data scraping firm, Bright Data, over the unlicensed use of Round Hill Music’s sound recordings and musical works to train Suno’s AI music model. The complaint points to investigative journalistic work conducted by 404 Media and The Atlantic, which showed Suno’s training data was scraped from major platforms such as YouTube Music and Deezer, in addition to other major searchable datasets. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement against defendant Bright Data, circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs), and removal or alteration of Copyright Management Information (CMI). On the same day, Round Hill Music filed a separate complaint against Anthropic over the unlicensed use of plaintiff’s musical works to train Anthropic’s large language model, Claude. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, circumvention of TPMs and removal or alteration of CMI. Each of the lawsuits includes an exhibit of 500 compositions as a representative sample of works that have been infringed, which Round Hill Music states will be updated with potentially thousands of additional works.
  • On August 21, WikiHow filed a complaint against OpenAI over the unlicensed use of WikiHow articles to train and operate ChatGPT and its retrieval-augmented generation systems. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, secondary copyright infringement, and removal of Copyright Management Information (CMI).
  • On August 28, Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music filed a complaint against Anthropic, its CEO Dario Amodei, and co-founder Benjamin Mann over the unlicensed over the unlicensed use of plaintiffs’ musical works to train the Claude large language model. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, contributory infringement by torrenting against Amodei and Mann, contributory infringement against Anthropic, and removal of CMI.
  • On August 31, independent record and music management company, Gerencia 360 Music, filed a complaint against Suno, over the unlicensed use of plaintiffs’ musical works and sound recordings to train Suno’s AI music model. The complaint details that plaintiffs’ works appear in data sets that are known to be used by AI companies and have been scraped from licensed streaming services. The complaint includes claims of direct copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, circumvention of Technological Protection Measures (TPMs), and removal or alteration of Copyright Management Information (CMI).

Two Music Companies Voluntarily Dismiss AI Copyright Lawsuits Against Suno: On August 3, Poseidon Wave Music, an independent music company, filed a voluntary notice of dismissal of the lawsuit it brought against Suno in May 2026, for the unlicensed use of Poseidon Wave Music’s sound recordings to train Suno’s AI model. On August 13, Jamendo, a music licensing platform, filed a voluntary notice of dismissal of the lawsuit it brought against Suno in June 2026, over the unlicensed use of Jamendo’s copyrighted music to train Suno’s AI audio product Bark, without authorization.

Fifth Circuit Rejects Server Test and Applies New Test for Infringement Analysis of Public Display Right: On August 27, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a decision in the case of Emmerich Newspapers v. Particle Media, where the court remanded the case to the lower district court to determine whether Particle Media infringed the public display right by embedding Emmerich Newspapers’ news content and whether the URLs in the case could be considered Copyright Management Information (CMI) under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Mississippi news publisher, Emmerich Newspaper, had brought a lawsuit against Particle Media for embedding snippets and images of the publishers’ news content on an app called News Break. The court declined to apply the “server test,” and instead applied its own “transmit requirement” to establish a rule that there is no infringement of the public display right through the embedding process, where the transmission of the copies originated from Emmerich and where the publisher did not prevent such transmissions. The court indicated its analysis was narrow and focused on the facts of the case, stating, “In light of the foregoing discussion, our decision should not be understood to mean that embedding will always be permissible.” On Emmerich’s second issue on appeal, the court ruled that there may be instances where a URL could constitute as CMI under the DMCA.

GMR and Music Choice Settle Lawsuit: On August 7, performing rights organization Global Music Rights (GMR) and music service Music Choice filed a joint stipulation of dismissal of the lawsuit brought by GMR over the unauthorized performance of 95 songs in GMR’s catalogue. The lawsuit, which was filed in June, alleged that Music Choice performed 95 songs from GMR’s catalog without a valid license after the agreement expired between the two companies. The settlement terms remain confidential, but both parties will pay their own legal fees. More information is available here.

ASCAP Settles Lawsuit with Spoon River Media: In the last week of August, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) dismissed the lawsuit it brought against Spoon River Media and owner Matthew Moore, settling the case which was brought over for unpaid licensing fees arising from broadcasting ASCAP members’ music.

USPTO Publishes Updated Report on Economic Impact of IP-Intensive Industries: On August 3, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) released the latest edition of its series of reports on the economic impact of IP-intensive industries titled Intellectual property and the U.S. economy in 2024. The new report found that 128 IP-intensive industries accounted for $11.4 trillion in U.S. GDP, or 44% of total U.S. GDP, and provided direct employment of 49.6 million works, or 33% of total U.S. employment. The study also found a substantial wage premium for workers in IP-intensive industries.

South Korean Music Collecting Rights Society Replaces Ban on AI-Assisted Tracks: On August 3, South Korea’s largest music copyright collecting rights society, Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA), announced that it will permit songs with AI-assisted elements to be registered and paid royalties as long as a human creator played a substantial part in writing, composing, or arranging the song. Songs generated entirely by AI through simple text prompts remain ineligible, and applicants must identify the AI tools used and certify the accuracy of their disclosures. The announcement replaces KOMCA’s ban from February 2025 on songs containing any AI use.

EU Study Recommends Regulations to Support Livestream Anti-Piracy Operations: On August 4, the European Parliament published the results of a commissioned study showing that the EU’s targeted recommendations to member states to introduce live-streaming anti-piracy measures have largely failed to have any effect. The report instead recommends that the EU introduce regulations to require streaming intermediaries to swiftly take down pirated livestreams, citing to Italy’s Piracy Shield as an example. The report also recommends that EU member states establish an independent administrative body that would help administer live-streaming piracy operations.

Sony and Universal Music Groups Sue Streaming App Musi in Canada: On August 6, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced that in coordination with Music Canada, Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group sued the developers of Musi, a music streaming app that allows users to stream music from YouTube without showing the video itself. In September 2024, Musi was removed from Apple’s App Store after rightsholders and YouTube lodged complaints about the service.

UAE Sets Fees for Public Performance Royalties for Music Played in Commercial Venues: On August 11, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Ministry of Economy and Tourism announced the launch of a Collective Management Music Guide, which, among other things, sets out the fees for obtaining public performance licenses for commercial venues and establishes a new cultural fund for aspiring UAE musicians that will be funded by 10% of collected royalties. Emirates Music Rights Association and Music Nation will be responsible for collecting and managing royalties. The fees will take effect starting December 2026.

Japanese Government Introduces Draft Principles on AI Training Data Transparency: On August 18, Japan’s Cabinet Office published a new draft of “Principle Code” that encourages AI companies to disclose training data at the request of rightsholders under certain conditions. The Principle Code encourages AI companies to disclose on three fronts: (1) disclosure of AI training processes, collection methods, and types of training data on their websites; (2) disclosure, upon a rightsholder’s request, of whether the URL of a specific creative work is included in AI training data; and (3) disclosure, upon an AI user’s request, of whether the URL of a specific creative work is included in AI training data. The principles are non-binding. According to reports, the Japanese government intends to finalize the basic principles soon in order to implement them as early as this fall.

Singapore’s Government Launches AI and IP Public Consultation: On August 26, the Ministry of Law of Singapore (MinLaw) and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) launched a public consultation on AI and Singapore’s IP regime. On copyright issues, the Singaporean government is focusing on three topics: (1) how to foster greater certainty and accountability in AI training “including whether the scope and applications of the computational data analysis exception are sufficiently clear, how lawful access and rights-owner safeguards should operate in practice, and how the Government can support non-legally binding technical measures in a practical and industry-led way application of its text-and-data mining exceptions are sufficiently clear; (2) copyright risk management in AI deployment and use; and (3) the scope of human creativity in AI-assisted works. Comments are due October 22, 2026.

China’s Supreme People’s Court Issues Revised Judicial Interpretation for Civil Copyright Cases: On August 20, China’s Supreme People’s Court issued an updated document on judicial interpretation in civil copyright cases addressing when a work is considered to be published, the calculation of damages, and the use of artwork in public places, and the statutory license for newspaper and periodical reprinting.

India’s Copyright Office Deems AI-Generated Image Meets Originality Requirement Under India’s Copyright Law: On August 31, India’s Copyright Office issued an order rejecting Dr. Stephen Thaler’s appeal to register the image A Recent Entry to Paradise which was generated by Thaler’s AI model, DABUS and listed as the author on the registration application. In evaluating whether the image met the originality requirement under Indian Copyright law, the Office stated that as a computer-generated work in the generative AI context the standard for originality focused on “[whether] a legally recognised person supplies and curates the relevant inputs, configures and initiates a non-trivial generative process, and thereby causes an independently generated expressive work to come into existence.” The Office found that based on the record before it, the image “possesse[d] sufficient independently generated expressive character.” However, the Office noted that DABUS could not be listed as the author of the work (as Thaler had listed on the application) because it was not a person capable of being recognized as an “author” under India’s copyright law, and rejected the application on that premise.

CCC to Host Webinar on Copyright for Researchers: On September 2 at 1 p.m. ET, the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) will host a 30-minute webinar on the basics of copyright and its implications for researchers and data scientists. During this webinar, participants will be briefed on copyright basics, learn about artificial intelligence (AI) as it relates to copyright, and hear about the ramifications of some common use cases.

Library of Congress and USCO to Host Public CMPC Meeting: On September 11 at 1 p.m. ET, the Library of Congress (Library) will host the next public meeting of the Copyright Public Modernization Committee (CPMC) where the Library and the U.S. Copyright Office will provide updates on the progress of the development of the Enterprise Copyright System (ECS), with a focus on the registration component. There will be a public question and answer period at the end of the session. More information is available on the registration page.

AU Kogod Digital Rights Summit: On September 17, American University’s (AU) Kogod School of Business will host a Digital Rights Summit on collective management, AI, and sports in a streaming world. This event will focus on who owns creativity in the age of AI, how creators will be paid, and what comes next for licensing and streaming. 

GIPC to Host Event on Anti-Piracy Enforcement: On September 17, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) will host an event on the future of intellectual property enforcement. The session will bring together creators and industry decision-makers for conversations on emerging technologies that are re-shaping IP enforcement and its relationship with organized crime and digital IP theft.

Deadline for Submitting Comments to USCO on Proposed and Existing Section 1201 Exemptions: September 28 is the deadline to submit written comments on proposed and existing exemptions being considered by the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) as part of its tenth rulemaking review under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This review examines whether certain activities should be exempt from the DMCA’s restrictions on bypassing technological protection measures. Additional information is available here.

Oral Arguments in Ninth Circuit En Banc Rehearing of ‘Sedlik v. Von Drachenberg’: On September 29 at 4:30 p.m. ET, a panel of judges in the Ninth Circuit will hold oral arguments in the en banc rehearing of photographer Jeff Sedlik’s copyright infringement case against tattoo artist Katherine Von Drachenberg. The rehearing will consider the continued viability of the Ninth Circuit’s long-standing intrinsic/extrinsic substantial similarity test for copyright infringement.

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