3 Count: Demythed Empire

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1: No Copyright Protection For Idea, Says Delhi HC In Humans Of Bombay’s Suit Against People Of India

First off today, the Indo-Asian News Service reports that, in India, the Delhi High Court has said that there is no copyright protection in an idea, only protection if the expression of the idea is copied.

The statement was part of a hearing that pitted the photography storytelling project Humans of Bombay (HOB) against the similar project People of India (POI). The lawsuit was filed by HOB, which alleged that POI not only infringed copyright-protected content, but copied their business model and at least some of the stories.

The lawsuit drew a sharp rebuke from Humans of New York, the original such photography project, on which HOB is based. The judge in the case made it clear that there was no copyright protection for ideas and even got HOB on the record as saying that they don’t mind someone running a competing platform, it’s solely the alleged copying of protected material that they are objecting to.

2: Adobe Unveils Firefly 2 and Previews More AI Features

Next up today, Carl Franzen at VentureBeat reports that tech giant Adobe has announced a series of new AI features, including improvements to its existing text-to-image service, named Firefly 2, as well generative match for video, a video upscaler and a text-to-vector service.

Adobe is somewhat unique in the AI space in that it trains all of its systems on licensed content and offers indemnification guarantees for those that use its systems. That, in turn, was a major theme of the announcement, which focused on the fact that all the improved AI systems were trained either on licensed content or public domain content.

Those copyright concerns even extend to the images that Adobe’s AI systems edit. For example, when uploading an image to use the Generative Match feature, it warns users to confirm that they have the rights to the image. Though there’s little to stop users from simply lying or misunderstanding, it’s another piece of how Adobe is trying to offer copyright certainty in its AI products.

3: Ark: Survival Evolved Studio Settles Legal Dispute Over Alleged Code Theft, and in a Surprise Twist They’re Now Helping to ‘Re-Release’ the Game They Said Ripped Them Off

Finally today, Andy Chalk at PCGamer reports that Studio Wildcard, the makers of the popular game Ark: Survival Evolved, have settled a dispute with the Chinese gaming company Snail Games and will even be helping to re-release the game that it originally claimed copied its code.

The case began in December 2021, shortly after the release of Myth of Empires by Snail Games. According to the lawsuit, Studio Wildcard noticed similarities between the games and even found evidence of copied code. This resulted in the game being removed from Steam following a takedown notice, though it remained available on Snail Games’ website.

However, the two sides have reached a settlement. Though the terms of the settlement are not known, Studio Wildcard has said that this represents a new revenue stream for them and that they will be both rescinding their takedown notice with Steam and helping to publish Myth of Empires on other platforms.

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