Communications Law | Media & Entertainment | Digital Regulation Introduction: When Seconds Cost Millions In an age dominated by TikTok, podcasts, and viral clips, an audio snippet can be broadcast to millions in minutes—without full context. But as media editing tools evolve and audiences shrink attention spans, legal challenges surrounding edited
Tag: fair use
What Counts as “Transformative Use”? A Fair Use Primer for Influencers
Media & Entertainment | Intellectual Property | Influencers & Creators laws Introduction: Fair Use in the Age of Filters and Fandoms Whether it’s remixing a song on TikTok, parodying a famous brand in a YouTube sketch, or using film clips in commentary on Instagram Reels, today’s digital creators often rely—intentionally or
Toying with the Law: The Sylvanian Drama Lawsuit and the Boundaries of Fair Use in Influencer Content
Fair Use Doctrine | Media & entertainment | Society When TikTok creator Thea von Engelbrechten, better known as the mind behind the viral account Sylvanian Drama, began producing skits starring Calico Critters figurines in offbeat, often darkly comedic scenarios, few anticipated a legal showdown. Yet, as of April 2025, her
Megatron Mimicry: Authors Sue Microsoft Over Pirated Books in AI Training
Copyright Infringement | Fair Use Debate | Industry-Wide Implications In late June 2025, a coalition of high-profile authors—including Kai Bird, Jia Tolentino, and Daniel Okrent—filed a landmark lawsuit in the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs allege Microsoft trained its Megatron large language model (LM) on nearly 200,000 pirated books, producing outputs that
Fair Use Breakthrough: Meta & Anthropic Prevail in AI Copyright Suits
Transformative Use | Legal Precedent | Navigating Risks Ahead In a landmark week for AI developers, U.S. federal courts delivered pivotal rulings in favor of Meta and Anthropic, affirming that training large language models (LLMs) on copyrighted books qualifies as fair use—provided the data was lawfully obtained. These developments mark a
Evaluating the Kim Marasco v. Taylor Swift Lawsuit: Merit, Copyright, and the Boundaries of Inspiration
In 2024, Florida author Kim Marasco filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against global music icon Taylor Swift. Marasco alleges that Swift’s Lover album artwork and some of the lyrics contain unauthorized references to her 2016 novel Fallen from Grace. The suit has drawn significant media attention, raising questions about the
Understanding the Fair Use Doctrine: What You Need to Know
In today’s content-driven economy, the Fair Use Doctrine is one of the most commonly cited and often misunderstood principles in U.S. copyright law. Whether you're a content creator, tech platform, academic institution, or corporate media user, understanding fair use is critical for managing copyright risks and maximizing legal use of