NPE Showcase – Legislative Update (Video)

The Board dismissed this petition for cancellation of Roman Atwood's registration for the mark SMILE MORE for various goods (stickers, backpacks, shirts) and for retail store service featuring clothing, denying petitioner's claim that the term fails to function as a mark.

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.

On Oct. 7, 2026, at 18:00 UTC, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will publish every new generic top-level domain (gTLD) application proceeding in the 2026 new gTLD Round, including who applied...

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

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.

A business decides to file a trademark. Someone on the team searches for a familiar online legal-services brand, clicks the first result, and lands on a site with a similar-sounding name, a polished design, five-star reviews, and a low flat fee. The application gets filed. Months later the business learns the “service” was not who they thought it was, the filing was signed by someone with no authority to sign it, and the USPTO has suspended the application along with hundreds or thousands of others from the same shop.

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.

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.

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

The Ninth Circuit held that GitHub Copilot's AI-generated code did not violate DMCA's copyright management information (CMI) removal provisions, even when output resembled source code, because the system generated new works through probabilistic patterns rather than retrieving and stripping information from existing copies. This decision establishes a critical distinction between AI systems that learn and generate versus those that retrieve and reproduce, with significant implications for how courts evaluat

California Governor Newsom has signed Senate Bill 574 into law, establishing the nation's first statutory framework governing how attorneys and arbitrators use generative AI in their professional practice. The legislation creates specific obligations around confidentiality protection, accuracy verification, and disclosure requirements that take effect January 1, 2027.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued Individual Notices permitting certain Salvadoran Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries to demonstrate continued work authorization through September 9, 2026. This development arrives weeks after most TPS-based Employment Authorization Documents expired, creating challenges for employers and employees navigating reverification procedures and compliance requirements.

The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that Salvadoran Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries remain protected despite the September 9, 2026 expiration date, though no formal announcement has been made regarding the program's future. This development raises critical questions about employer obligations and the potential scenarios that may unfold, including termination with a 60-day notice period or an extension of the designation.

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, the DEA decided to pause its consideration of adult-use marijuana rescheduling.

California's 2026 legislative session concluded with fewer employment bills than in previous years, but several significant measures await Governor Newsom's decision by September 30. Key proposals address automated decision systems in employment, workplace surveillance restrictions, expanded bereavement leave, AI-driven workforce displacement notices, and modifications to last year's controversial "stay-or-pay" legislation.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has approved significant revisions to California’s workplace first aid requirements for both construction and general industry. For general industry employers, the most notable change is the elimination of the longstanding requirement that first aid kit contents be approved by a consulting physician. Instead, employers may now comply by providing a first aid kit meeting ANSI/ISEA Z308.1-2021 Class A requirements.

The legal profession has spent the past few years asking whether generative AI is trustworthy. Will it draft a contract, research an issue, summarize a record, or invent a case with impressive confidence? California’s new law shifts the focus to a more practical question: who takes responsibility when lawyers use it?

Federal ADA Title III lawsuit filings have reached 5,006 cases at mid-year 2026, marking the highest level since 2021 and suggesting a potential record-breaking year ahead. California continues to dominate with 2,426 cases, while new plaintiffs' firms enter the market and filing patterns shift across states. Will 2026 surpass the all-time high of 11,452 lawsuits set in 2021?

The European Commission has announced that EU AI Act transparency rules take effect August 2, 2026, requiring chatbots to identify themselves, deepfakes to be labeled, and AI-generated content to be marked. Organizations must assess whether their AI systems trigger disclosure, labeling, or content-marking requirements, with limited exceptions and penalties reaching €15 million or 3% of global turnover for noncompliance.

The Department of Homeland Security has proposed imposing fees of $70,000 for initial OPT recommendations and $30,000 for second-year extensions on educational institutions, potentially reshaping how international students, universities, and employers participate in the Optional Practical Training program. While framed as a fraud prevention measure, the proposal raises critical questions about workforce access, cost allocation...