On November 4, 2025, the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) designated as precedential an appeals review panel (ARP) decision vacating the Patent Trial & Appeal Board’s § 101 rejection of claims directed to training machine learning models. Ex parte Desjardins, Appeal No. 24-000567 (ARP Sept. 26, 2025) (precedential). The Board
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Fair use or foul play? The AI fair use copyright line
By Jodi Benassi
The US District Court for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment in favor of an artificial intelligence (AI) company, finding that its use of lawfully acquired copyrighted materials for training and its digitization of acquired print works fell within the bounds of fair use. However, the district court explicitly rejected the AI company’s…
Copyright, AI, and Politics
In early 2023, the US Copyright Office (CO) initiated an examination of copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence (AI), including the scope of copyright in AI-generated works and the use of copyrighted materials in AI training. Since then, the CO has issued the first two installments of a three-part report: part one…
Human Authorship Required: AI Isn’t an Author Under Copyright Act
By Jodi Benassi
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a district court ruling that affirmed the US Copyright Office’s (CO) denial of a copyright application for artwork created by artificial intelligence (AI), reaffirming that human authorship is necessary for copyright registration. Thaler v. Perlmutter, Case No. 23-5233 (D.C. Cir. Mar. 18, 2025) (Millett,…
Assessing Inputs: Determining AI’s Role in US Intellectual Property Protections
The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued additional guidance on the contribution of artificial intelligence (AI) in its January 2025 AI Strategy. Similarly, the US Copyright Office issued part two of its “Copyright and Artificial Intelligence” report, addressing the copyrightability of AI- or partially AI-made works. Both agencies appear to be walking a fine…
Case Closed: OpenAI Prevails on Secondary Meaning
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction (PI) in a trademark action under the Lanham Act, stating that the district court’s ruling was not clearly erroneous based on its finding that the plaintiff had likely acquired secondary meaning in the mark. OpenAI, Inc. v.…
Data Mining for AI Systems Training Permitted Under German Law
By Paulina Simons & LL.M.
In a landmark decision, a German district court recently decided that copying images to create a data set that can potentially be used for training generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems does not infringe German copyright law. Robert Kneschke v. Large Scale Artificial Intelligence Open Network, Case No. GRUR-RS 2024, 25458 (Hamburg District Court Sept. 27,…
NO FAKES Act Would Create Individual Property Right to Control Digital Replicas
By Sarah Bro
On July 31, 2024, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act of 2024 to protect the voice and visual likeness rights of individuals from unauthorized use in the form of digital replicas, including digital replicas created by generative artificial intelligence (AI). The bill…
AI Takeover: PTO Issues More Patent Eligibility Guidance for AI Inventions
By Peter Brunovskis & PhD
The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a 2024 Guidance Update on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility, Including on Artificial Intelligence, which focuses on subject matter eligibility for artificial intelligence (AI)-based inventions. 89 Fed. Reg. 58128 (July 17, 2024). The new guidance is part of the PTO’s ongoing efforts since 2019 to provide clarity on…
PTO Reopens Comment Period for AI Inventorship Guidance
By Peter Brunovskis & PhD
The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) reopened and extended until June 20, 2024, the period for public comment on the guidance regarding inventorship in applications involving artificial intelligence (AI) assisted inventions. The guidance was published on February 13, 2024, at 89 FR 10043. The PTO will also treat as timely any comments received between…