In May 2023 we reported on the IP infringement decision of the Californian District Court, in relation to the dispute between the creators of the Bored Aped Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible token (NFT) collection, Yuga Labs, and the 'artists' Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen.  In that decision, the Court found against the defendants and, on 25 October 2023, the order for damages was handed down.  This blog post looks at the recent damages decisions and its implications.  (For a refresher on NFTs, you can consult our series here.) As background, the defendants created an NFT collection called the Ryder Ripps BAYC (RR BAYC) collection, which essentially copied the iconic ape images from the Yuga Labs' BAYC collection.  The defendants' alleged that this was for the purposes of commentary on Yuga Labs and the BAYC NFTs.  The Court found against the defendants on the claims of false designation of origin and cyber-squatting (in relation to certain domain names used by the defendants).  It also dismissed the defendants' First Amendment / Rogers defence because no artistic expression was at issue, finding that "As Yuga has pointed out, and the Court agrees, Defendants’ sale of RR/BAYC NFTs is no more artistic than the sale of a counterfeit handbag". Read more

Uses of machine learning and AI are expanding rapidly, and IP rights play a critical role in both regulating the use of AI and protecting the rights of inventors and creators. In this series, we will explore the key challenges governments worldwide are currently grappling with in order to provide the right level of protection … Read more

The UK Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee (which recently conducted an inquiry into the impact of AI on several sectors) has published The Governance of Artificial Intelligence: Interim Report identifying 12 challenges of AI, including that for intellectual property, and recommends legislation during this parliament. The report also expresses concerns that the UK will fall behind if there are delays, given the moves made by the EU and US to regulate AI already. On IP it recommends that where AI models and tools make use of other people’s content, policy must establish the rights of the originators of this content, and these rights must be enforced. Read more

Dr Thaler’s latest attempt to obtain IP protection for “creations” of his AI system has failed, with a US Court rejecting copyright protection for an AI-generated artwork. Read more

Dr Craig Wright claims to be the inventor of Bitcoin and is asserting three Bitcoin-related copyright claims against a number of entities. In the appeal from the decision of Meade J that there was no serious issue to be tried on the merits of the claim in relation to copyright in the Bitcoin File Format (required in order for permission to be granted to service defendants outside the jurisdiction), Lord Justice Arnold and the Court of Appeal unanimously held that there was a serious issue to be tried, allowing the appeal and in the process elucidating the requirement for fixation in copyright claims. Read more

In this instalment of our series The IP in AI, we take a look at the extent to which copyright and other rights currently provide protection for output generated by AI systems, including how concepts of 'authorship' and 'originality' may need to be adapted to meet the rapid growth of generative AI. Read more