Licensing Archives - Joshua D. Waterston, Esq.

As AI Risk Shifts to Customers, Contracts Matter More Than Ever

Joshua D. Waterston, Esq.2026-08-07T11:27:39-04:00May 21st, 2026|Artificial Intelligence, Contracts, Licensing, Litigation|

For years, business customers approached software contracting with a familiar expectation: if a vendor’s technology infringed someone else’s intellectual property rights, the vendor would defend the claim and cover resulting losses. As AI companies entered the enterprise market, those protections quickly became table stakes. That assumption is becoming increasingly unreliable. Litigation involving AI systems is accelerating. According to Prof. Edward Lee’s team at ChatGPTisEatingTheWorld.com, 111 copyright infringement cases involving AI have already been filed. Insurers are narrowing coverage. Vendors are narrowing indemnities. And businesses adopting AI tools are increasingly retaining risks that vendors once absorbed. When it comes to [...Read More...]

First AI copyright infringement settlements – both within a week: Anthropic and Eleven Labs avoid risking billion-dollar valuations.

Joshua D. Waterston, Esq.2025-09-12T13:27:05-04:00August 28th, 2025|Artificial Intelligence, Contracts, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Licensing|

Big news: Vacker v. Eleven Labs and Bartz v. Anthropic have settled. Why did they settle, and what does this mean for the other 46 AI copyright infringement cases currently pending? Vacker v. Eleven Labs: Aug. 20th Stipulation to Stay Proceedings Bartz v. Anthropic: Aug. 26th Order re: Settlement in Principle First, there are a few common themes: The alleged copyright infringement was blatant and intentional The companies faced both reputational and financial harm Both were raising money based on valuations of billions of dollars Their losses could potentially damage or destroy the business model (some companies training on everything, [...Read More...]

Judge: Meta Wins but Transformative Element of Fair Use Doesn’t Outweigh Market Impact

Joshua D. Waterston, Esq.2025-09-12T13:38:54-04:00June 26th, 2025|Artificial Intelligence, Contracts, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Licensing|

"Every battle is won before it is ever fought." - Sun Tzu. Meta just won an early skirmish in the battle over whether AI training is fair use - but AI companies may end up losing overall if they focus on only the transformative element of copyright law's fair use test without addressing the market impact. Judge Chhabria's June 25, 2025 Order in Kadrey v. Meta Yesterday, in Kadrey v. Meta, Judge Chhabria granted Meta summary judgment, and said that even if training AI models on copyrighted works is transformative - "As a factual matter, there’s no disputing [...Read More...]

This is Not Mocha Mousse

Joshua D. Waterston, Esq.2025-09-12T12:25:30-04:00April 18th, 2025|Intellectual Property, Licensing|

This is definitely not Mocha Mousse (Pantone 17-1230) The color you’re seeing in this image may look like Pantone’s 2025 Color of the Year, Mocha Mousse. It might even share the same hexadecimal value, straight from Pantone’s official Connect platform. But it’s not Mocha Mousse. Why not? Because unless you’ve licensed Pantone’s color system, or are using tools that have, you can’t officially use that color in design work. And for businesses, that distinction matters. Wait, What Is Mocha Mousse? Every year, Pantone selects a Color of the Year that captures the cultural moment. In 2024, it was [...Read More...]

Where Have All the Soundtracks Gone?

Joshua D. Waterston, Esq.2021-05-02T14:41:05-04:00April 30th, 2021|Contracts, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Licensing|

When fans of the TV show “Dawson’s Creek” watch it on Netflix, it will sound very different. This is because the theme song (Paula Cole’s "I Don't Want to Wait") has been replaced by Jann Arden’s "Run Like Mad" due to lack of streaming and DVD rights to the Paula Cole song. Dawson’s Creek has plenty of company in this area. Before the rise of streaming services, TV shows could save money by paying for a limited-time license for music rights, to cover the expected life of the show. The cost would be a fraction of the cost of perpetual [...Read More...]