Newsletter

Giving Tuesday is here! Please take a moment now and  make a donation. 

In 2024, New Media Rights provided legal services to hundreds of creators, internet users, and innovators throughout the world. 

This year, the Texas IP Law Journal published our article about the training of textual generative artificial intelligence. A Framework for Applying Copyright Law to the Training of Textual Generative Artificial Intelligence explores the complex legal landscape surrounding the use of copyrighted works to train generative artificial intelligence models, including whether fair use might apply to the use of copyrighted materials as training inputs. We look forward to continuing to explore the changing AI landscape and how copyright law will affect its development and implementation. READ MORE

New Media Rights Executive Director Art Neill, James Thomas (CWSL ’24) and Assistant Director Erika Lee teamed up to write about an issue that many legal minds are grappling with: how does copyright law apply to the training of artificial intelligence? The rampant popularity of generative artificial intelligence in the last few years has resulted in a number of different lawsuits related to AI, including its use, training and the resulting outputs.  

Our latest article, A Framework for Applying Copyright Law to the Training of Textual Generative Artificial Intelligence, was recently published in the University of Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal’s summer edition. The article delves into the complex legal landscape surrounding the use of copyrighted works to train generative artificial intelligence models. 

Executive Director Art Neill and Assistant Director Erika Lee recently spoke at the 21^st Annual Media and Entertainment Law Conference at Southwestern Law School. Co-hosted by the Media Law Resource Center (MLRC), the conference brought together renowned experts to discuss current issues in the entertainment and media law fields.

Neill and Lee moderated a breakout discussion panel about the public domain.  As more and more high-profile works and characters enter the public domain each year, what can and can’t be done with this intellectual property? How do you distinguish between versions of a character? What happens when a character is also a trademark? How important are public domain works for training artificial intelligence? Do works created by artificial intelligence simply enter the public domain upon creation?  We addressed many of these questions throughout our breakout session. READ MORE

New Media Rights recently presented a workshop at the REC Innovation Lab at San Diego Miramar College! Assistant Director Erika Lee and Student Fellow Deanna Maayaa were on site to talk about copyright, contracts, and other legal issues common to startups.

“We had a wonderful time presenting at the REC Innovation Lab! Many of the participants were entrepreneurs, and our presentation served as a reminder of some of the important legal considerations they needed to take as they move forward with their projects” said Student Fellow Deanna Maayaa.

We focused on common areas where it can be easy to make mistakes and talked about ways that budding entrepreneurs can prevent some of these common missteps early on. Along the way, we also identified moments where it’s probably a good time to reach out to a lawyer. The event was hybrid, available in person and via zoom, and the turnout was great! READ MORE

Giving Tuesday is here! Please take a moment now and make a donation. In 2023, New Media Rights worked hard to provide important legal services to hundreds of artists, creators, and innovators throughout the world.

This year, we submitted extensive comments to the Copyright Office about generative artificial intelligence. We argued that the use of copyrighted material as training inputs for text generative artificial intelligence is likely a fair use under current law. We are particularly excited to continue our work related to artificial intelligence in the coming year.

We are also grateful for a $33,300 grant from the City of San Diego’s Economic Development Department to support our work with local San Diego small businesses and tech startups.

Please take a few moments to donate now to ensure that the essential legal services that we provide to hundreds of artists, creators and innovators throughout the world continue to exist. READ MORE

New Media Rights recently worked on the podcast A CRISPR Bite, produced by Corinne Ruff and the GEAP3 Network (Genome Editing and Agricultural Policy, Practice, and Public Perceptions).

CRISPR gene-editing technology came out as a massive biotech breakthrough in the last decade, but most people have still never heard of it. In a new five-part podcast series, called A CRISPR Bite, food anthropologist Dr. Lauren Crossland-Marr takes listeners into the labs where researchers are tinkering with food genes, to help break down the problems they’re hoping to solve – and what’s at stake. READ MORE.

The Copyright Office is currently conducting a study on Artificial Intelligence and Copyright, focusing on the copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence technology. On October 30^th, New Media Rights submitted comments to the Copyright Office about legal issues surrounding the use of copyrightable inputs in training datasets for artificial intelligence, primarily whether or not such training uses are fair use.

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Please join us for a free panel on Artificial Intelligence called "Algorithmic Justice: The New Frontier" on October 12th at 5pm at California Western School of Law. This event will help kick off the school's Law, Justice, and Technology Initiative as well as the IP, Privacy, and Media Law concentration. You can register at the Eventbrite page for the event. Come join us!

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Assistant Director Erika Lee and Student Fellow Cristina Meisterling recently presented at the KPBS Explore Local Content Program orientation workshops!

KPBS Explore is a program established to help provide more local programming for San Diego audiences. Most of the programs that have been part of the Explore program are created by local San Diego producers who then have their programs broadcast or distributed via KPBS.  You can read more about the program in general here:  https://www.kpbs.org/tv/kpbs-explore

Erika and Cristina spoke about legal issues filmmakers, podcasters and other content creators need to be aware of throughout all stages of production, as well as how copyright and music licensing affects production. READ MORE

New Media Rights Assistant Director Erika Lee and Student Fellow Cristina Meisterling recently spoke with students in the Small Business Planning class at the San Diego College of Continuing Education. 

We joined their final class session over Zoom to talk about common legal issues that startups and new businesses should be thinking about in the early stages. The focus was on moments where it's easy to make a misstep, focusing on copyright and contracts that businesses might want to enter into. In addition, we talked about different moments where it might be a good time to reach out to an attorney for assistance. READ MORE