Manatt Entertainment Partner Nathaniel Bach was quoted in a Daily Journal article on two copyright infringement lawsuits brought by major record labels against two artificial intelligence music generation platforms over the alleged unlicensed use of creative works.
The case surrounds copyright infringement claims by the record labels that the AI music generators copied and misused their artists’ sound recordings for training data without a license, after observing that the AI services repeatedly generated songs closely matching with their property. Bach said creators were “rightly fed up” with these types of companies trying to gain market share by using creative works without a license.
"As these complaints allege, if AI companies want to leverage copyright-protected works in their training sets, they should seek permission and obtain paid licenses up front. If they do not, the music industry has made clear that forgiveness will not come cheaply,” Bach said. “Today's complaints are also notable for underscoring that the music industry is not standing in the way of technological change—rather, powerful new technologies do not absolve tech companies from complying with existing law.”
Daily Journal subscribers can read the full article here.