Kazuo Ishiguro’s newest book, Klara and the Sun, is a work of fiction, but barely so. Klara is an AF, or artificial friend. Spoiler alert — her purpose is to study her owner so intensely that she can not only learn her habits and perform her activities but take on personality characteristics to the point […]
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United States v. Arthrex: Supreme Court Crafts a Creative Remedy for the Appointment of Patent Judges
The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided a landmark patent case. In United States v. Arthrex, Inc., the Court held that the appointment process of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”)’s administrative patent judges (“APJs”) was unconstitutional. The Court specifically considered whether APJs are “principal officers” who must be appointed by the President and confirmed by […]
Read more...Copyright Infringement of Photographs and Reclaiming Publicity Rights Through NFTs
Richard Prince is a controversial artist known for appropriating third party images. Prince initially drew criticism in the 1980s when he took a photograph of a Marlboro advertisement and simply removed the word “Marlboro” from the picture. One of Prince’s appropriated Marlboro pieces earned him more than a million dollars in 2005 and another earned […]
Read more...AI and Copyright in the Fashion Industry
Artificial intelligence (“AI”) is an innovative system where computers emulate human intelligence processes. AI technologies have been transforming how companies invent and create products, predict consumer trends and streamline production processes. In the past several years, AI has found a new home in the fashion industry and has been used to execute digital clothing designs, […]
Read more...Virtual Try-On Features: Augmented Reality Technologies Highlight Evolving Compliance Hurdles Under U.S. Privacy Laws
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing restrictions have made it hard for consumers to try on clothes, accessories and makeup before making a purchase. As an alternative, consumers have turned to augmented reality (AR) “virtual try-ons” offered by brands like Garnier, Maybelline and Warby Parker. AR is the use of digital information, […]
Read more...Instagram Sued Over Embedding Copyrighted Images
In a less than surprising development, Instagram was sued in the Northern District of California on May 19, 2021 by two photojournalists in a class action accusing the social media giant of violating copyright law by facilitating the practice of embedding images on third-party websites for its financial gain. The lawsuit alleges that Instagram is […]
Read more...An Epic Trade Secret Mistake? Why Third Parties to Litigation May be at Risk of Losing Trade Secret Protections
May 21, 2021 marked the end of an epic three-week trial, pitting Epic, the owner and developer of the wildly popular Fortnite video mobile game, against Apple, the maker of the number one smartphone platform in the U.S. Despite being an antitrust case, Epic v. Apple inadvertently raised a serious trade secret concern on its […]
Read more...Film, Theater and Copyright Post-Pandemic
For 11 days in January-February 2021 a group of college friends from the class of 2020 each purchased a $350 all access pass to the virtual Sundance Festival so they might text and share video chats around their passion for theater. Since graduation, they were now scattered across the country, one in a new job […]
Read more...Cybersecurity: New Executive Order Promises to Overhaul the Entire Industry
Nearly a decade after then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta predicted the United States would face a “cyber-Pearl Harbor,” the Federal Government (“USG”) has finally taken dramatic action. On May 12, President Biden signed an Executive Order (“EO”) that radically overhauls the nation’s approach to cybersecurity. After multiple high-profile attacks on both public and private systems, […]
Read more...AI in the Living Room: The Problem with Online Exam Proctors
When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered physical classrooms, students arrived home to numerous Zoom or Google Meet invitations to attend their newly established virtual classes. Now that remote education has become ubiquitous (despite optimistic plans for in-person classes in Fall 2021), many educational institutions have turned to the trendiest technological advances to monitor classroom activity, particularly […]
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