A court has handed down the first known ruling (to me, anyway) on “fair use” in the wave of copyright infringement lawsuits against AI companies that are pending in federal courts. The ruling came in Thomas Reuters v. Ross. Thomas
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Top Copyright Cases of 2024

Warner Chappell Music Inc. v. Nealy
The Copyright Act imposes a three-year period of limitations for copyright infringement claims. There has been a split in the circuits about whether this means that damages could be claimed only for infringement occurring…
New Trademark Fees Coming
The USPTO has announced that trademark fees in the United States will be undergoing significant increases on January 18, 2025. Here is a summary of the changes.
Application Fees
You will no longer enjoy a discounted fee for filing a…
The New Copyright Circumvention Rules
In 1998, Congress enacted the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). In addition to establishing the notice-and-take-down regimen with which website and blog owners are (or should be) familiar, the DMCA made it unlawful to “circumvent a technological measure that effectively…
Joint Custody and Equal Shared Parenting Laws
Can We Talk Here? – Trademark Law and Speech Rights

In recent years, the United States Supreme Court has been grappling with the thorny question of how the First Amendment applies to trademarks. In this blog post, attorney Thomas B. James attempts a reconciliation of recent pronouncements.
The Slants (Matal…
AI Lawsuits Roundup

A very brief summary of where pending AI lawsuits stand as of February 28, 2024. Compiled by Minnesota attorney Thomas James.
Thomson Reuters v. Ross, (D. Del. 2020)
Filed May 6, 2020. Thomson Reuters, owner of Westlaw, claims that Ross…
Nontransformative Nuge
A reversal in the 4th Circuit Court demonstrates the impact the Supreme Court’s decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts v. Goldsmith is already having on the application of copyright fair use doctrine in federal courts.