The UK’s attempt to deal with generative AI, training data and copyright law has taken yet another turn. On 6 February 2024, in its response to the AI White Paper consultation, the UK government announced that it will drop its plans for a code of practice on copyright and AI – a work it has…

Recently, the EU Parliament adopted a resolution calling for new rules to ensure a fair and sustainable music streaming sector for creators. This shows how music creators’ demands for fair remuneration are far from resolved, despite the EU’s efforts to empower them through the adoption of Articles 18 to 22 of the Copyright in the…

  THJ Systems Limited & Anor v Daniel Sheridan & Anor [2023] EWCA Civ 1354 concerned many issues but the one of most interesting was the correct legal test to consider whether a copyright work is original. One would think this has been well rehearsed in numerous cases already, but the Court of Appeal decision…

Copyright protection in machine-generated works is not a new issue for law makers. The traditional concept of human authorship was first challenged with the emergence of photography and this has continued every time a new technology comes about. In the U.S., the case of Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony, 111 U.S. 53 (1884) extended copyright…

Recently, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in line with several decisions of the U.S. Copyright Office’s Review Board, found that human creativity is the sine qua non of copyrightability, refusing to register a work lacking human creative involvement or control. In this way, the U.S. jurisprudence embraces the distinction between…

The UK High Court has held that Lidl’s rights in the Lidl logo were infringed by Tesco’s Clubcard Price(s) signs ([2023] EWHC 873 (Ch)). Specifically, the court made the following findings. Trade mark infringement – Lidl’s trade mark for the Lidl logo was infringed by Tesco’s Clubcard Price(s) signs, which took unfair advantage of Lidl’s…

The UK government has recently announced its plans to introduce a code of practice on copyright and artificial intelligence (AI). The guidance and all supporting documents can be found here. This goes in line with the government’s ten-year National AI Strategy, for the UK to remain a global AI superpower and for AI companies to…

Perhaps it comes as no surprise that a copyright dispute regarding a fire-breathing–sneezing dragon would get so heated. The case of Evans v John Lewis Plc & Anor [2023] EWHC 766 (IPEC) is a copyright infringement claim in which the IPEC (a specialist IP court in the UK) was asked to decide whether John Lewis’s…

Introduction: Generative AI regulatory framework There is a huge debate around Generative AI and the need to regulate such disrupting technology (see here and here). Very different approach has been adopted in the European Union, which is going to introduce by the end of 2023 a EU AI Act (here), in the UK, which is…