U.S. copyright law protects works created by humans. The Copyright Office will not register content produced entirely by a non-human source. Courts have applied this rule to works attributed to animals, supernatural beings, and natural forces. Not monkeys, not oceans, not even “celestial beings” can own a US copyright. Courts found Naruto the monkey couldn’t
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Copyright in the Age of AI: Anthropic’s Clash with Music Publishers
“Plaintiff Music Publishers, a group of the world’s leading music publishers, bring this action to hold accountable the culprits behind one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history,” starts the allegation that music publisher’s Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music have made against Anthropic, an American artificial…
When the State Buys AI, Who Decides the Limits?
Most of the public conversation about AI still focuses on the technology itself. Is it safe? Is it biased? Which company is building the most powerful model?
Those questions matter. But when the government uses AI to help make decisions that shape people’s lives, a different question comes into view. This strikes me as more…
AI Made It. Now Who Owns It?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a part of the tools we use every day. AI can be found on our computers, our phones, our cars, and beyond. As AI systems grow more advanced, it becomes increasingly appealing to rely on them to generate content, ideas, and even finished works with little to no human…
AI in Vendor Workflows: Protecting IP Through Contract Design
Vendors are going to use AI. In software work, it now sits inside everyday delivery: summarizing requirements, turning meeting notes into action items, accelerating early code scaffolding, generating test cases, even helping troubleshoot bugs. A services agreement works best when it assumes that reality and then asks a more practical question: where does the client’s…
Protecting AI-Influenced Work: Why Copyright and Patents Can Fall Short, and Why Trade Secrets Often Matter More
More and more, I hear some version of the same question from business owners: “We made something valuable with the help of AI. Can we protect it?”
Sometimes the “something” is obvious, like marketing copy, a logo, a photo, a product description, a training guide, or software code. Sometimes it is less obvious but more…
Memory and Compute in Everyday Practice
For years, I kept too much in my head: deadlines, facts, half-finished ideas. It slowed my thinking. Recently I started treating project management as a drive and AI as a processor. The split is simple and it is starting to work.
The drive is where the work lives when I am not doing it. For…
Small Firms, Big Ideas; Reflections from the 2025 Wisconsin Solo & Small Firm Conference
By Sam Kavalier
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of making my annual trip to Wisconsin Dells to attend the 2025 Wisconsin Solo & Small Firm Conference. As with each year of the conference, it was a reminder that, even as attorneys characterize themselves with independence (solo and small firm attorneys especially so), community is essential.…
A Plain-English Guide to Protecting Your Educational Content
Courses rarely live in one place. A video on your platform, slides in a folder, worksheets in a download, templates you keep improving. If you create a course, you own the rights to the words, images, and structure you made. Registering those rights creates a public record and unlocks stronger remedies if someone reuses your…
Adopt the Model, Train the Human: AI Literacy as the Parallel Track to Integration
The rush to integrate AI is understandable. New tools promise faster drafting, richer research, and smoother operations. Adoption alone, however, is not enough. When powerful systems land in people’s hands without a shared understanding of how to use them well, the risks expand as quickly as the possibilities. A parallel track in AI literacy changes…