Some big professional news: I’m thrilled to be joining the amazing faculty at @fordhamlawnyc.bsky.social this fall! 🧵
Joseph Fishman
@jpfishman.bsky.social
Professor at Vanderbilt Law School & Blair School of Music Researching intellectual property, creativity, & music. https://law.vanderbilt.edu/bio/?pid=joseph-fishman
🚨BREAKING: Federal judge concludes that using copyrighted works to train generative A.I. is transformative and ultimately a fair use. (Nevertheless, Anthropic can’t beat the lawsuit because it pirated books for another purpose too.) First of kind ruling. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
Bartz
documentcloud.org
“no coincidence [Trump] acted less than a day after [Perlmutter] refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk’s efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.” www.politico.com/news/2025/05...
Trump fires top U.S. copyright official
Democrats are alleging foul play.
politico.com
I bet this list of law firms signing onto an amicus brief in support of Perkins Coie will be passed around by law students. They’ll note the absentees. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
12 copyright infringement actions vs. OpenAI and Microsoft will be consolidated to one court in Southern District of New York storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
Thrilled to be hosting the 2nd Annual Vanderbilt Music Law Summit tomorrow! Featuring panels on streaming fraud and the future of PROs, a keynote from Concord CEO Bob Valentine, an update from the Copyright Office, and more. ⬇️ Check it out here: law.vanderbilt.edu/music-law-su...
Music Law Summit - Vanderbilt Law School
Vanderbilt Law is excited to host the 2025 Music law Summit: The Future of Music Rights and Enforcement on April 3, 2025.
law.vanderbilt.edu
To state the obvious, Jenner is drawing a VERY sharp contrast with Paul Weiss and other Big Law firms capitulating to Trump. They're mounting a full-court press against the administration with the coordinated lawsuit and statement declaring their intent to fight this to the end and win. Refreshing!
Read Jenner & Block's lawsuit challenging Trump's unconstitutional assault on their firm.👇 Very glad to see Jenner fighting back. They're represented by Cooley, which is taking a risk here too. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
The lead prosecutor on the Adams investigation - Hagan Scotten - resigns from SDNY. “I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion [to dismiss Adams charges]. But it was never going to me.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Read the Resignation Letter From Hagan Scotten
Hagan Scotten, an assistant U.S. attorney, wrote to Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general, refusing to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams.
nytimes.com
Like Universal, Warner now also sidesteps Spotify's "bundled" payouts under the statutory mechanical license by entering into a direct deal with it. variety.com/2025/digital...
Warner Music Announces New Deals With Spotify and Amazon as Part of Mixed Earnings Report
Warner Music struck a new deal with Spotify ending the companies’ disputes over a 'bundling' subscription option, as part of a mixed earnings report.
variety.com
This is a very good explanation of a very dense topic. Copyright folks, if you're not already following @wordsbykristin.bsky.social, you should be.
Kristin Robinson@wordsbykristin.bsky.social · last yr.What’s the drama between Spotify and songwriters/music publishers? If you need a full debrief, I gotchu. I made a TikTok explaining it in great detail www.tiktok.com/t/ZT2rN2jSn/
Following Chappell Roan's Grammy speech, I've seen a few people advocating for "fair wages" for recording artists, including proposals to make them employees. There's lots of ways record companies should be doing better, but I'd caution against recording artists being employees.
I'm pleased to have contributed to this @bloomberglaw.com video explainer on music copyright disputes. If you'd like a concise summary of the Ed Sheeran case (or just a palate cleanser from the rest of your timeline these days), check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVPM...
Marvin Gaye, Ed Sheeran & the 'Blurred Lines' of Music Copyright
YouTube video by Bloomberg Law
youtube.com
Last week, a court dismissed the MLC's lawsuit against Spotify over its bundling of music+audiobooks. MLC called it a sham to reduce music royalties, but court ruled the governing reg clearly allowed it. Meanwhile, UMG sidesteps the issue via a direct deal. news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/spoti...
Spotify's Court Win Exposes Gap in Streaming Royalty Debate
Spotify USA Inc.’s victory over claims it contrived the premium subscription plan to reduce songwriter royalties creates a blueprint for other streaming services and leaves publishers scrambling for r...
news.bloomberglaw.com
Spotify + UMG made a deal which sources say helps pay UMPG + its songwriters better than b4. Good for them. This opens the door for other big pubs + their writers to get similar deals. Also, good...but what about the indies? Do they get left behind? My analysis: www.billboard.com/pro/spotify-...
The Spotify/UMG Deal Signals Hope for Publishers — What Comes Next?
Spotify's new direct deal with the Universal Music Group is good news for publishers and songwriters. Will other companies get to benefit as well?
billboard.com
This is a really, really good explainer on the Miley Cyrus motion to dismiss in the Flowers lawsuit, & the mess that is 9th Cir law on when a copyright co-owner can sue an alleged infringer without the the other co-owners’ involvement
Aaron Moss@copyrightlately.bsky.social · 2y agoNEW: My deep dive into Miley Cyrus's surprising new motion to dismiss the "Flowers" copyright infringement lawsuit, and a look at the controversial precedent that creates hurdles for enforcing co-owned copyrights. Up now on Copyright Lately! copyrightlately.com/flowers-copy... #copyright #music
Excited to be in Chicago for the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society, where I’ll be speaking about forensic musicologists’ increasingly significant role in music copyright disputes. chicago2024.ams-net.org
Home - AMS 2024 Annual Meeting
chicago2024.ams-net.org
My op-ed on TN's ELVIS Act bill was published today in The Tennessean. Bottom line: the cause is just! But the bill is broader than it needs to be. As currently drafted it would cover innocuous activities having nothing to do with AI. www.tennessean.com/story/opinio...
Could Elvis impersonators and tribute bands be sued in Tennessee? Possibly under AI bill
Rather than sweeping in all vocal simulations regardless of context, the law should be tailored to the AI-enabled problems that actually need solving.
tennessean.com
Sooo, my FB account was disabled for…copyright violations? I am highly confused b/c (1) I would *never* (2) I don’t even post anymore! The form letter doesn’t say what activity caused the suspension, & the only reply allowed is basically “tell us why we’re wrong.” Anyone ever deal w/ this before?