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Recent technological advances in generative AI have transformed the way in which we listen to and create music. Many artists and industry players have readily adopted generative AI, viewing it as a creative force to be harnessed, while others remain wary. 

The use of increasingly sophisticated AI tools to generate musical works poses a number of challenges from a legal perspective, particularly in relation to how they may impact intellectual property rights. 

In this blogpost we explore some of these legal considerations in further detail.

Input Considerations – Training AI Models

Generative or algorithmic art is not particularly new; the…

Continue Reading AI-Generated Music: How Will the Existing Copyright Framework Cope? 
Alice Chaplin

No doubt the famous fictional detective would have been only too happy to lend his detective skills to get to the bottom of the copyright infringement case brought by Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate against, amongst others, Netflix and the producers of the recent Netflix film, Enola Holmes. The case was dismissed in December, presumably because the parties reached a settlement, although this hasn’t been confirmed.

Background

For those who haven’t yet worked their way through all of Netflix’s recent releases, ‘Enola Holmes’ is a film based on a book by Nancy Springer, and centres around the teenage sister of the famous detective, as she goes to London in search of her mother who has disappeared.

The film was released in September 2020, but three months before that, the Conan Doyle Estate (CDE) issued legal proceedings in the USA against, amongst other defendants, Nancy Springer, Netflix and the producers of the film, for (i) copyright infringement in relation to the film’s depiction of Sherlock Holmes, and (ii) trade mark infringement in relation to the use of the ‘Holmes’ name in the film’s title.Continue Reading Sherlock Holmes and the copyright infringement claim

The provisions of the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Law Provisions Act 2019 (the Act), which was signed into law on 26 June 2019, were commenced on 2 December 2019.

The only provisions which are not yet in effect are sections 2(1), 9 and 21, which will automatically come into operation on 26 December (i.e. 6 months from the passing of the Act on 26 June 2019).Continue Reading Commencement of the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Law Provisions Act 2019

On 26 June 2019, the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Law Provisions Act 2019 (the 2019 Act) was signed into law. The Act amends the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 and modernises Irish copyright law in accordance with the Report of the Copyright Review Committee on Modernising Copyright, published in October 2013. The Act also recognises exceptions to copyright permitted by the Information Society Directive 2001/29/EC. The Copyright and Related Rights Acts 2000 and 2007, along with Part 2 and Schedules 1 and 2 of the 2019 Act may be cited together as the Copyright and Related Rights Acts 2000 to 2019.
Continue Reading Government signs the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Law Provisions Act 2019 into law

The European Parliament voted on 26 March 2019 in favour of the controversial EU Copyright Directive, which will implement sweeping changes to regulation around online copyright. MEPs voted in favour of the compromise text as agreed on 13 February 2019 (previously discussed here). The Directive was approved by 348 votes to 274, concluding one of the most contested and intensely lobbied law proposals in recent years. A last minute vote on debating amendments to the reforms (in relation to Articles 11 and 13) was also rejected by just five votes. The text approved by Parliament can be accessed here. 
Continue Reading EU Approves Controversial New Copyright Rules

On 13 February 2019, the European Parliament, Council and Commission reached a compromise on the text of the new Copyright Directive (previously discussed here).  The proposed Directive targets digital use of press publications by information society service providers, such as news aggregators and media monitoring services. As discussed below, the two most controversial provisions are Articles 11 and 13, known respectively as the “link tax” and “upload filtering” provisions.
Continue Reading EU reaches compromise on new Copyright Directive

The European Parliament has adopted its position on the controversial proposed Copyright Directive, which includes a proposal for online content sharing service providers to remunerate artists (notably news publishers, journalists, musicians, performers and script authors) for their work when it is used by sharing platforms such as YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. The reform of EU copyright rules is part of the European Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy. The Commission recognises that whilst online services provide ease of access to creative works and offer opportunities for creative industries to develop, it also generates challenges when copyright protected works are uploaded without prior authorisation from copyright holders.
Continue Reading European Parliament votes for tech giants to share revenue with artists and journalists

The CJEU has ruled that an unauthorised reposting of a photograph on a website which is already publicly accessible, with the consent of the photographer and without restriction preventing it from being downloaded, on another website, can infringe the copyright rights of a photographer (Renckhoff, C-161/17). It is of little importance if, as in the present case, the copyright holder does not limit the ways in which the photograph may be used by internet users.
Continue Reading Reposting photograph freely accessible on another website requires reauthorisation of photographer

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has handed down a reference for a preliminary ruling in Case C-610/15 (Stichtin Brein v Ziggo BV, XS4ALL Internet BV), holding that making available and managing an online platform for sharing copyright-protected works may constitute an infringement of copyright.
Continue Reading CJEU issues ‘The Pirate Bay’ judgment

The Irish Commercial Court has ordered nine ISPs to block three websites offering illegal downloading or streaming of copyrighted movies and TV shows.  The action was brought by Motion Pictures Association, representing six film and TV studios.  The Court held that it was clear there had been infringement of copyright, that it would not result in the lawful use of the internet being interfered with and the order was proportionate to the damage being caused. None of the ISPs opposed the application for the injunction.  However one ISP raised concerns about cost implications of dealing with a large number of sites into the future, and asked the court to put a cap on the number of illegal website notifications a month, which movie companies could direct ISPs to block.  The Judge refused to grant a cap on notifications.
Continue Reading Court orders ISPs to block illegal streaming websites