The year 2025 left the media and entertainment industry with a series of significant, unresolved legal questions. As we move into 2026, several high-profile cases are poised to redefine the boundaries of fair use, the legality of AI training, and the application of the Rogers Test in trademark law.
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As 2025 fades into the rearview mirror, many of the entertainment and media industry’s biggest legal questions remain unresolved. In this episode of The Briefing, Weintraub Tobin partners Scott Hervey and Tara Sattler take a forward-looking approach to the cases and doctrines that could shape 2026.
In this episode, they cover:…
In this episode of The Briefing, Weintraub Tobin partners Scott Hervey and Matt Sugarman break down The New York Times v. Perplexity AI, a lawsuit that goes beyond copyright and into largely untested trademark territory. They discuss the Times’ allegations that Perplexity copied its journalism at both the input and output stages and, more…
Did Coca-Cola cross the line by using a Johnny Cash soundalike in its nationwide “Fan Work is Thirsty Work” campaign? In this episode of The Briefing, Weintraub Tobin attorneys Scott Hervey and Richard Buckley unpack the Cash estate’s lawsuit and what it reveals about the evolving law of soundalikes.
In this episode, they cover:
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The Anthropic settlement shows just how costly copyright missteps can be in AI development. Anthropic has agreed to a $1.5B settlement after a court found that keeping a permanent library of pirated books was not fair use—even though training its AI model on those same works was.…
In a major win for Meta, a federal court recently dismissed a lawsuit brought by prominent authors who claimed their books were illegally used to train the company’s Llama models. But the ruling doesn’t give AI companies a free pass—it reveals the roadmap for how a better-prepared copyright plaintiff could win next time.…
A federal judge has ruled that training Claude AI on copyrighted books—even without a license—was transformative and protected under fair use. But storing millions of pirated books in a permanent internal library? That crossed the line.…
Major AI copyright ruling – The Delaware District Court’s decision in Thomson Reuters v. Ross AI could have huge implications for AI training and copyright law. On this episode of The Briefing, Weintraub attorneys Scott Hervey and Andy Tan break down the case, its impact on the AI industry, and what it means for…
The Ninth Circuit recently upheld a ruling allowing a class action against NeoCortex, the creators of the Reface app, over the unauthorized use of content creator Kyland Young’s likeness. This case highlights the growing tension between AI innovation and individual rights. Scott Hervey and Jamie Lincenber discuss the lawsuit and what it means for AI companies…
California recently passed two new AI laws that aim to protect individuals from the unauthorized creation of digital replicas. Scott Hervey and James Kachmar discuss these laws and their implications for the media industry on this episode of The Briefing.
Listen to the podcast episode here.
