Northern Soul 2024, released in April 2024, featuring Elliot Zimmerman on Track 3, Stormy Weather, and Track 17, Heading Up North.

Harvey Mason, Grammy’s Chief, makes clear that ‘We’re Not Giving an Award to a Computer’ and new rules have been enacted to be eligible for an award! The full wording of the ruling follows: “The GRAMMY Award recognizes creative excellence. Only human creators are eligible to be submitted for consideration for, nominated for, or win a GRAMMY Award. A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any Categories. A work that features Continue reading Grammy’s New AI Rule Clarifies Computers Are Not Eligible for Awards→

Interesting link below about a class action wherein Plaintiffs contend OpenAI violated the rights of millions of internet users when it used their social media comments, blog posts, Wikipedia articles and family recipes. IMHO, we are on the dawn of defining the boundaries for, including without limitation, culling data from the internet, the uses made thereof, and the rights of the authors. Sounds like Star Trek… going where no one has gone before. Here’s a Continue reading Class Action v. ChatGPT maker OpenAI→

In cases where there is NO HUMAN INVOLVEMENT, Urantia Found. v. Kristen Maaherra, 114 F.3d 955, 957–59 (9th Cir. 1997), has indicated that the work is solely created by AI and no copyright will issue. The newest spin on these AI issues exists when the Artist feeds his underlying work to a computer and uses AI to apply styles it has “learned” by scanning named Artists like DaVinci, Michaelangelo, etc. Andersen et al v. Stability Continue reading AI Art Generation and Copyright Law→

Andersen et al v. Stability AI Ltd. et al, Case No. 3:23-cv-00201 in the United State District Court for the Northern District of CA, San Francisco Division, is a class action suit wherein several artists are suing AI art generators Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt for using their work to train AI tools. The suit contends defendants downloaded billions of images from the internet without consent which were used to create AI styles of the Continue reading Artists Sue AI Art Generators for Copyright Infringement→

Ehud Yonay, whose 1983 story was the basis of the original 1986 film “Top Gun,” published “Top Guns” in April 1983 in an issue of California magazine and registered it in the U.S. Copyright Office later that year. Soon after it was published Paramount secured exclusive motion picture rights to the story, according to the complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles federal court.  The Yonays claim that after sending Paramount a statutory notice of termination Continue reading Top Gun Maverick Sued for Copyright Infringement→

On or about February 4, 2022, Billboard reported the RIAA sent a demand letter to HitPiece, a new beta website, because it was selling thousands of songs and album artwork NFTs using information from Spotify’s API without permission from the artists or their record labels. The RIAA charged HitPiece with engaging in “the systematic and flagrant infringement of the intellectual property rights of the Record Companies and their recording artists on a massive scale…” Jared Continue reading RIAA v. NFT Distributor HitPiece→

In light of the fact that many people are podcasting their own live performances of controlled compositions on YouTube and other social media, there seems to be a disconnect between the law and conduct. The thought of suing a fan who performs your or your client’s material is not as palatable to artists and companies today as it has been in the past, especially if there are other options… YouTube has new platforms and monetization policies Continue reading Posting Cover Tunes on YouTube and Other Social Media→

Throughout my career, I have routinely included a parental guarantee of the child’s performance in all contracts I drafted for clients engaging a minor. IMHO, the parent gets a separate benefit and detriment from that of the child in agreeing to same in that the parent’s burden of providing for the child is abrogated if the child becomes an earner. At common law, the custodial parent of a minor child is entitled by law to Continue reading Are parental guarantees of their child’s performance enforceable?→