legal – Tech News

Could Trump’s AI-generated Taylor Swift endorsement be illegal?

On Sunday, former President Donald Trump posted a collection of memes on Truth Social — the platform owned by his media company — that make it seem like Taylor Swift and her fans are coming out in support of his candidacy. But as new legislation takes effect, these images could have deeper implications about the use of AI-generated images in political campaigns, especially when those images misrepresent a celebrity’s likeness.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/19/could-trumps-ai-generated-taylor-swift-endorsement-be-illegal/

Apple terminates Epic Games developer account calling it a ‘threat’ to the iOS ecosystem

In response to Epic’s news, Apple shared the following statement: Epic’s egregious breach of its contractual obligations to Apple led courts to determine that Apple has the right to terminate ‘any or all of Epic Games’ wholly owned subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or other entities under Epic Games’ control at any time and at Apple’s sole discretion.’ In light of Epic’s past and ongoing behavior, Apple chose to exercise that right.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/06/apple-terminates-epic-games-developer-account-calling-it-a-threat-to-the-ios-ecosystem/

AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted, rules a US Federal Judge

United States District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled on Friday that AI-generated artwork can’t be copyrighted, as noted by The Hollywood Reporter. She was presiding over a lawsuit against the US Copyright Office after it refused a copyright to Stephen Thaler for an AI-generated image made with the Creativity Machine algorithm he’d created. Nobody really knows how things will shake out around US copyright law and artificial intelligence, but the court cases have been piling up. Sarah Silverman and two other authors filed suit against OpenAI and Meta earlier this year over their models’ data scraping practices, for instance, while another lawsuit by programmer and lawyer Matthew Butterick alleges that data scraping by Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI amounted to software piracy.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/19/23838458/ai-generated-art-no-copyright-district-court

Ticketmaster apologises for Taylor Swift tour sales fiasco

Taylor Swift said it felt like fans suffered “multiple bear attacks” in their attempts to secure tickets

“We need to do better and we will,” Joe Berchtold, president of Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, told lawmakers on Tuesday.

According to Senator Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the US Senate committee on consumer rights, Ticketmaster is responsible for 70% of ticket sales in the US.

“In truth, there is no other choice. It is a monopoly,” she told MSNBC last year.

Regarding the Swift tour, she added: “The high fees, site disruptions and cancellations that customers experienced shows how Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company does not face any pressure to continually innovate and improve.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64384304

Meta’s ads being found unlawful in the EU is a warning to other ad-funded platforms

Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

“The EDPB binding decisions clarify that Meta unlawfully processed personal data for behavioural advertising. Such advertising is not necessary for the performance of an alleged contract with Facebook and Instagram users. These decisions may also have an important impact on other platforms that have behavioural ads at the centre of their business model,” said EDPB chair, Andrea Jelinek, in a statement.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/12/meta-ads-gdpr-decisions-edpb/

The FTC moves to ban noncompete agreements

Image Credits: Saul Loeb-Pool / Getty Images

“The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said. “Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand. By ending this practice, the FTC’s proposed rule would promote greater dynamism, innovation, and healthy competition.”
https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/05/the-ftc-moves-to-ban-noncompete-agreements/