Tag: Right to Privacy
“Protect College Sports Act” Passes Senate and Furthers Misunderstanding of NIL Rights as a Novelty
The Protect College Sports Act of 2026 (PCSA), S. 4668 has passed the Senate, 77 to 22. It has not yet been taken up by the House; support there and its prospects are mixed with some significant opposition voiced. The preamble to the Act states its purpose is “[t]o protect the name, image, and likeness...
NO FAKES REVISED, MOSTLY IMPROVED, AND PUT ON SENATE CALENDAR
In late June a significantly revised version of NO FAKES was substituted in the Senate for the version that had been introduced in both the House (H.R. 8915) and Senate (S.4591) in late May. This newly substituted version then was moved out of the Judiciary Committee and has been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar...
Much Ado About McConaughey
Media outlets have been in a flurry reporting that actor Matthew McConaughey registered eight trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in an effort to protect himself from unauthorized uses of his voice and likeness via artificial intelligence. Some of the registered trademarks are sound marks, including "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT," McConaughey's famous catchphrase from...
House Introduces Its Companion Version of NO FAKES Act
The House has introduced its own version of the NO FAKES Act. Apparently, at least some in the House are shifting gears from the earlier No AI FRAUD Act given the broader support for the revised version of the Senate's NO FAKES Act. This suggests some increased momentum to move forward with something along the...
Copyright Office Calls for Congressional Action on Digital Replicas
Late this summer, the U.S. Copyright Office released the first of its planned reports on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence. This one, designated as Part 1, addresses “Digital Replicas”. It was notably released the same day that members of the Senate introduced a bipartisan digital replica bill. The Report generally supports a federal digital replica law...
NO FAKES Act Introduced in Senate
On July 31st, right before the summer recess, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced the NO FAKES Act, which has been substantially revised and improved from the previously circulated discussion draft. The bill seeks to address concerns over the use of unauthorized digital replicas of real people in the wake of improved and widely available...
Senate Holds Hearing on Ways to Improve Draft Digital Replica Bill
Yesterday, April 30, 2024, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property’s held a hearing on “The NO FAKES Act: Protecting Americans from Unauthorized Digital Replicas.” This was a follow-up to a prior Senate subcommittee hearing on AI which nominally focused on copyright law, but largely raised the issue of personality rights. The Senate...
House Subcommittee Sends Follow-Up Questions After AI Hearing
After the February 2nd House hearing about AI and how best to address unauthorized use of a person's voice and likeness at the federal level, two members of the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet sent me (Prof. Rothman) additional written questions to answer for the record. Representative Issa's questions focused on...
Federal Right of Publicity Takes Center Stage in Senate Hearing on AI
On July 12th, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held its second hearing about artificial intelligence (AI) and intellectual property, this one was to focus expressly on “copyright” law. Although copyright was mentioned many times during the almost two-hour session and written testimony considered whether the use of unlicensed training data was copyright...
Cardi B Wins Jury Verdict against Tattooed Plaintiff
On October 21st, in Brophy v. Almanzar, a jury sided with recording artist Cardi B (aka Belcalis Alamanzar) and rejected a lawsuit brought against her by Kevin Michael Brophy. The dispute arose out of the use of Brophy’s tattoo as a starting point for the cover art of Cardi B’s “career launching” 2016 mixtape Gangsta...