IP litigation surge: Midjourney & training-data cases [developing]
Key Questions
What recent IP lawsuits involve AI companies?
Disney and Universal sued Midjourney over AI-generated Princesses and Minions. Gracenote sued OpenAI; Britannica, BMG sued Anthropic. These reflect surging training-data cases.
What is Mercor's controversial AI training practice?
Mercor cold-calls VFX freelancers for owned assets, paying for prior work potentially employer-owned. This echoes SAG likeness/IP fears post-$1.5B settlement. It raises consent issues.
How does the Trump administration view AI IP issues?
Trump and White House back fair use for AI training. This contrasts with lawsuits from Disney, Universal, and others. CuriosityStream secured a $90M deal amid tensions.
What other AI IP incidents are highlighted?
A folk musician's voice was cloned by AI, with recordings claimed by copyright trolls. Anthropic intensified IP concerns after leaking Claude’s source code. Music and voice rights are collision points.
Are AI firms addressing model copying abroad?
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google unite against AI model copying in China. This IP protection effort occurs amid U.S. lawsuits. Straits Times reports the collaboration.
Disney/Universal sue Midjourney; Gracenote/OpenAI, Britannica/BMG/Anthropic (McKool: Kadrey-Meta/SDNY); Mercor VFX grabs; OpenAI/Anthropic vs China DeepSeek; Trump fair use post-$1.5B; CuriosityStream $90M.