Bite (noun): more meaty news to sink your teeth into.
Bark (noun): peripheral noise worth your attention.
This week in Other Barks & Bites: a U.S. court rules Google violated antitrust law and operates a monopoly in the search engine and text advertising markets; Elon Musk swaps out legal team in a legal spat with OpenAI; and 84% of tech company executives who responded to a poll say they want changes to U.S. copyright law.
Bites
Survey Shows Tech Execs Wary of Government AI Policy, Majority Want a Copyright Law Overhaul
On Wednesday, August 7, Collibra and Harris Poll released the results of a survey of over 300 AI decision makers at tech companies that found 99% of respondents said they felt current threats brought by AI necessitate regulation from the U.S. government. 84% of the AI decision makers said the government needs to update copyright laws to protect against AI. “Without regulations, the U.S. will lose the AI race long term,” said Collibra co-founder and CEO Felix Van de Maele, “while AI innovation continues to advance rapidly, the lack of a regulatory framework puts content owners at risk, and ultimately will hinder the adoption of AI.”
Musk Swaps Legal Team in Effort to Stymie OpenAI
On Monday, August 5, Elon Musk swapped out his legal team and refiled a lawsuit against OpenAI accusing the ChatGPT maker of violating its contracts and neglecting the public good in favor of promoting artificial intelligence. The goal of Musk’s lawsuit is to void the contract between Microsoft and OpenAI and throw a wrench in the progress of a tech rival. Musk swapped out his previous legal team for a team headed by Marc Toberoff, a prominent California entertainment lawyer. Throughout the lawsuit, Musk claims that his companies “do not enforce patents for their technology, which is free for the public to use,” as a rebuff to OpenAI.
RIAA Files Amicus Brief in Support of Music Publishers in Copyright Lawsuit Against AI Company Anthropic
On Monday, August 5, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other organizations submitted an amicus brief supporting a copyright lawsuit brought forth by various music publishers against AI company Anthropic. The RIAA and others wrote, “AI can reach its full potential and respect the rights of creators at the same time. The arguments that no one in the AI field, including Anthropic, can or should have to license copyrighted works before copying and exploiting them are a pretense belied by industry practice and well-established legal principles.” The publishers accused Anthropic of widespread copyright violations including using copyrighted lyrics to train its AI models.
U.S. Court Rules Google Has a Monopoly on Search and Text Advertising Markets
On Monday, August 5, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Google violated antitrust law and has a monopoly on the search and text advertising industries. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said that the search engine giant controls 90% of online searches. The ruling could set up another trial about solutions to remedy the unfair monopoly, including breaking up Google’s parent company Alphabet. Read full IP Watchdog coverage here.
Barks
Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Beyoncé Dropped
On Wednesday, August 7, a Louisiana music group agreed to drop its copyright lawsuit against Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Sony Music. The musical group Da Showstoppaz originally accused Beyoncé of copying the group’s lyrics in her song “Break My Soul.” The group was seeking royalties from the song.
Grubhub to Face Trademark Infringement Suit from Pair of Restaurants
On Tuesday, August 6, an Illinois district court judge ruled that food delivery platform Grubhub had to face trademark infringement claims from a pair of restaurants that claimed that the app stole their trademarks. Grubhub attempted to have the original suit from nine restaurants dismissed, but the judge ruled that two of the restaurant’s complaints were sufficient for further proceedings.
USPTO Calls for IP Panel Votes for SXSW Panel Picker
On Tuesday, August 6, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) encouraged members of the public to vote for several IP panels in a community voting period that will determine what panels are held at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. The USPTO asked voters to choose four panels on topics including IP, copyright, and generative AI. You can vote here.
Ag Tech Leader Corteva Allowed to Proceed with Patent Infringement Case Against Competitor
On Monday, August 5, a Delaware district court ruled that agricultural technology firm Corteva can pursue its lawsuit against competitor Inari Agriculture. Corteva has accused the startup Inari of infringing on its patented seed technology. The district judge ruled that Inari had yet failed to prove that one of its subsidiaries had developed the technology independent of Corteva’s patents.
This Week on Wall Street
Stock Market Recovers After Monday Selloff and Wild Week
On Friday, August 9, European and Asian stock markets recovered following Wall Street’s late-week surge, recovering most of the losses after a Monday stock selloff. Japanese markets started the selloff after worries of a U.S. recession sent shockwaves across the globe. On Thursday, the Department of Labor released weekly unemployment claim data that showed a downturn in unemployment claims strengthening confidence in the market.
Novo Nordisk Faces Earnings Miss with Ozempic, Wegovy Sales Disappointing
On Wednesday, August 7, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk announced quarterly earnings that fell short of expectations with sales for weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy not growing as fast as expected. Novo Nordisk stock dropped 7.7% after the earnings report. Novo Nordisk pulled back expectations and decreased sales and profit expectations for the year. The firm has faced production struggles to keep up with demand.
Quarterly Earnings – The following firms identified among the IPO’s Top 300 Patent Recipients for 2023 are announcing quarterly earnings next week (2023 rank in parentheses):
- Monday: None
- Tuesday: None
- Wednesday: Sony (14), Honda (28), Cisco (39)
- Thursday: Applied Materials (36), Deere & Company (94), Alibaba (207)
- Friday: None
