IP Fridays – Episode 29: Interview With Jonathan Spangler Of Nuvasive – Facebook Biometrics – Drones Privacy Issues

The U.S. Copyright Office recently released a report on the human authorship requirement for materials to qualify for copyright protection.

Universal Music Group's lawsuit against DistroKid raises a critical question about AI disclosure in consumer markets: when does the use of artificial intelligence become material information that must be disclosed to consumers? The case centers on allegations that DistroKid distributed mass-generated AI music while creating the impression it was created by legitimate human artists, potentially violating existing consumer protection laws even without specific AI disclosure requirements.

There was a significant ruling in the Doe v. Github case involving training of AI code generator models on open source. The United States Court of Appeals for The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court ruling dismissing part of an action brought under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) by programmers against GitHub, Inc., and other defendants. The issues centered on whether defendants removed copyright management information (CMI) from content used to train the AI code generator models.

The USPTO has released its latest economic impact report on IP-intensive industries, announced a new community engagement office in North Carolina, and issued several administrative updates including relief for Japanese applicants affected by a severe earthquake. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has also designated new precedential and informative decisions addressing obviousness-type double patenting and Markush groupings.

In recent video game news, gaming giant Nintendo filed and settled a lawsuit against the developers of the popular Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono Pharmaceutical have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Amgen over its proposed nivolumab biosimilar ABP 206, asserting seven patents related to OPDIVO. The complaint follows earlier inter partes review challenges and patent dance negotiations that narrowed the dispute to specific claims covering the antibody sequence, cancer treatment methods, and dosing regimens.

AI-powered call transcription tools like Otter.ai are facing class action lawsuits under Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) for allegedly collecting voiceprints without proper consent. A federal court recently allowed claims to proceed, signaling potential legal risks for companies that provide or utilize these increasingly common meeting recording services.

Is this AI-generated, or is it real? As generative AI tools have become increasingly capable of creating realistic images, videos, and audio, they have also made it easier to impersonate real people without their consent. In response, states are increasingly adopting laws that impose civil and criminal liability for certain AI-generated content that replicates an individual’s identity, likeness, voice, or other personal attributes.

If it seems to you that the process of obtaining federal trademark registration has become more complicated and time-consuming in recent years, you are not alone.

The U.S. government has filed a Statement of Interest of the United States of America under 28 U.S.C. § 517 in the Southern District of New York multidistrict litigation over OpenAI’s use of copyrighted works to train large language models. The filing appears to be the federal government’s first direct intervention in the wave of artificial intelligence (AI) training copyright cases, and it advises the court to treat model training (separate from use of AI to generate outputs) on copyrighted text standing alone as a highly transformative fair use under current law.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has begun processing IEEPA tariff refunds through its CAPE system, but Phase III covering finally liquidated entries faces delays and requires court orders. With the Department of Justice appealing the universal refund order and class certification pending, importers with finally liquidated entries may need to file individual lawsuits at the Court of International Trade to preserve their claims before statutory deadlines expire.

On Aug. 30, AB-1883 received final legislative approval and now heads to California Governor Gavin Newsom for signature or veto. If enacted, AB-1883 would prohibit employers from using workplace surveillance tools that rely on artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize, infer, or predict an employee’s emotional state, or to collect “neural data.”

A federal district court has struck down the U.S. Department of State's prohibition on immigrant visa issuance to nationals of 75 countries, finding it violates federal immigration law and the Administrative Procedure Act. The ruling requires the Department to resume visa processing for affected individuals, though the decision remains subject to appeal or potential stay.

A company that receives a demand letter under California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) should assume that a California consumer class action may be coming.

One year after the landmark House v. NCAA settlement reshaped college athletics, legal and business challenges continue to emerge around Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) compensation. From the $2.8 billion in back damages to the new $20.5 million institutional licensing cap, the framework governing student-athlete compensation raises complex questions about oversight, third-party agreements, and Title IX compliance that remain unresolved.

On Dec. 2, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced a new set of rules strengthening export controls to restrict China's capability to produce advanced semiconductors.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's Executive Order 2026-05 establishes a comprehensive regulatory framework for data center development, creating a two-track permitting system that distinguishes between facilities willing to comply with new GRID Requirements and those that decline.

A practice that millions of California workers encounter every pay period — having their clock-in and clock-out times rounded to the nearest few minutes — may soon be declared unlawful.

California lawmakers have advanced legislation that would prohibit employers from using automated systems as the sole basis for terminating or disciplining workers. The bill, which awaits the governor's signature, represents one of the most comprehensive state-level attempts to regulate AI in workforce management, requiring human oversight of algorithmic decisions and mandating transparency about which digital tools influence employment outcomes.

Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping the role of in-house legal teams, pushing general counsel from traditional reviewers of business decisions to active participants in shaping them. As AI-enabled products...