3 Count: Criminal Testimony

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1: Ed Sheeran Blasts Music Expert for ‘Criminal’ Testimony in Marvin Gaye Copyright Trial

First off today, Jonah Valdez at The Los Angeles Times reports that musician Ed Sheeran continued his testimony in the lawsuit over his song Thinking Out Loud, saying that a music expert for the plaintiffs was dishonest when giving his testimony earlier.

Sheeran is being sued by the estate of Ed Townsend. Townsend co-wrote the Marvin Gaye Song Let’s Get it On, which the estate says Sheeran infringed when creating his hit Thinking Out Loud. As part of that claim, the estate brought on a music expert who highlighted similarities between the tracks and made the claim that Sheeran unlawfully used the earlier work.

However, Sheeran has hit back, saying that he feels the testimony was dishonest, even calling it “criminal” in nature. He further claims that any similarities between the works are not protectable under copyright or are common elements between many songs.

2: EU Legislates Disclosure of Copyright Data Used to Train AI

Next up today, Katyanna Quach at The Register reports that, in the European Union, lawmakers have added a clause to the AI Act that would require AI developers to disclose any copyrighted data that they used to train their models.

The AI Act is a broad piece of proposed legislation that aims to regulate the use of the technology in the European Union. The first draft was introduced nearly two years ago, and the act is still being debates in the EU Parliament.

The addition of the copyright disclosures represents the first time a large government has attempted to regular AI’s use of copyright-protected work. Similar legislation is also currently being proposed in the United States.

3: Bethesda Accidentally Copyright Claims Official Redfall Twitter Banner

Finally today, Alex Osorno at GameRant reports that video game publisher Bethesda has been filing takedown notices in connection with their new game, Redfall. However, one of those notices appears to have misfired and actually took down the banner that the Redfall Twitter account was using to promote the game.

The error was noticed by Twitter user @PMS_Jordan, who showed screenshots of the official Redfall account with a missing top banner that was replaced with a notice it was removed for copyright reasons. The banner has since been fixed and neither Bethesda nor the game’s developer, Arkane Studios, have commented on the matter.

The error was, most likely, part of an aggressive campaign to reduce leaks and eliminate pirated copies during the early stages of the launch. Redfall, the game, is being released today.

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