The Ninth Circuit kicked off 2026 with a major copyright decision in the long-running Top Gun dispute, affirming summary judgment for Paramount in the lawsuit over Top Gun: Maverick. In this episode of The Briefing, Weintraub Tobin shareholders Scott Hervey and Tara Sattler break down the Ninth Circuit's reasoning and why it matters for studios, writers, and anyone adapting real-world stories.
A soaking wet George Bailey and Clarence, warming up by the fire in the toll house on the bridge, discuss why Clarence jumped into the freezing water. It was to help George, Clarence tells him. Only one way you can help me, George says sarcastically. You don't happen to have 8,000 bucks on you? The film then cuts to an elated George running through town, gleefully shouting Merry Christmas to the You are Now in Bedford Falls sign, Mr. Potter, the bank examiner.
For sports fans, certain moments are etched in memory, like Sid Bream sliding into home to clinch the pennant or Kelee Ringo's interception to seal a national championship. Even celebratory dances, like Ickey Woods' "Ickey Shuffle," become part of the sport's cultural legacy. These are sequences of planned and unplanned movements, which leads us to ask a question concerning intellectual property law: Can a coach's football play be copyrighted?
The groups argued that KlammereFyr removed the artistic context and immorally sexualized actors, sometimes by cropping scenes or "changing the lighting to accentuate certain features," TorrentFreak reported. To groups, it seemed clear that KlammereFyr was violating a rarely tested part of copyright law that protects artists' "integrity" by shielding their "moral rights." In Denmark, the "right of integrity means that even in cases where you are allowed to make use of a work, you are not allowed to change it
OpenAI is reportedly developing a generative music tool. While no release date has been announced, it would allow users to create music for videos or vocal tracks based on text and audio prompts, according to a report in The Information. For founders, marketers, and ad pros, this could mean creating demos for a catchy jingle or moody soundtrack to reflect the voice and tone of their brand in minutes. Think the next "I'm lovin' it" or "Nationwide is on your side."
But the masters rights for her first six albums - which means the actual recorded versions of her songs and music videos - belonged to her first label, Big Machine Records, as is standard in the music industry. This year, Swift finally struck a deal and reclaimed the master recordings from Shamrock Capitol, the private equity firm that acquired them in 2020.
Two weeks ago, record company Hallwood Media signed a deal with Telisha "Nikki" Jones after negotiations that purportedly included an offer of $3 million, Billboard reported. Jones is a Mississippi-based lyricist behind the R&B artist "Xania Monet" whose most popular song on Spotify racked up over 1 million listens, and whose Reels regularly top 100,000 views on Instagram - despite her likeness, vocals, and music being AI-generated.
The first point relates to the illegality of affixing paint on the wall of a building without the owner's consent, which in most cases constitutes the offence of criminal damage, subject to a maximum penalty in England of ten years behind bars. Because this wasn't just any old building but a Grade I listed building, the sentencing guidelines would instruct a judge to impose on a convicted offender a longer sentence within this range.
As reported by Rolling Stone, the decision came to light on Monday, September 15th, after both parties filed a joint notice of settlement in a California district court. As of now, the exact terms of the settlement remain undisclosed (or "pending") as both parties finalize the arrangements and any last-minute details. That whole process can take up to 45 days (landing on Thursday, October 30th), at which point the terms and other details could be made available. (Or leaked, perhaps?)
Microsoft's tussle with UK-based reseller ValueLicensing over the sale of secondhand licenses returns to the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal this week, with the Windows behemoth now claiming that selling pre-owned Office and Windows software is unlawful. ValueLicensing's representatives say this week's trial - due to start tomorrow - will "address whether the entire pre-owned license market was lawful - with Microsoft arguing that it was not lawful to resell pre-owned Office and Windows software at all."
A group of anonymous Github contributors sued Open AI and Microsoft, claiming their LLMs generated new code snippets similar to theirs but stripped of copyright management information.
The YouTuber's channel, Once Were Nerd, is under investigation, which could potentially lead to criminal charges due to alleged promotion of pirated materials on Android gaming handhelds.
