Business Law Journal

With the growing popularity and prevalence of generative artificial intelligence, courts are increasingly being called upon to decide novel legal issues based on never-before-seen phenomena that are challenging the traditional paradigm applied to human-generated content.  And copyright law is no exception.

On March 23, 2020, the Supreme Court unanimously held in Allen v. Cooper that, absent consent, states cannot be sued for copyright infringement and are shielded from such actions under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.  The Court found that the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990 (CRCA), which expressly provided that states “shall not be immune” under any doctrine of sovereign immunity for copyright infringement, was an unconstitutional abrogation of state sovereign immunity.  However, the Court also noted that its decision would “not prevent Congress from passing a valid copyright abrogation law in the future” that is more tailored to pass constitutional muster.

In FilmOn.com v. DoubleVerify, Inc. (2019), Case No. S244157, the California Supreme Court recently clarified the circumstances under which the state’s anti-SLAPP law applies to commercial speech and services.  The anti-SLAPP law, Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16, was designed by the Legislature to provide for early dismissal of strategic lawsuits against public participation (known colloquially as “SLAPP” suits), which are filed primarily to discourage the free exercise of speech and petition rights.  A defendant prevailing under the anti-SLAPP law is entitled to recover its attorneys’ fees from the plaintiff.  The Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the anti-SLAPP law’s “catchall” provision, which provides for dismissal of claims arising from “conduct in furtherance of the exercise of the constitutional right of petition or the constitutional right of free speech in connection with a public issue or an issue of public interest.”  Applying this provision, the Supreme Court held that DoubleVerify, Inc.’s (“DoubleVerify”) confidential reports about FilmOn.com’s (“FilmOn”) web content — which were generated for profit, delivered only to paying clients, and subject to a confidentiality requirement prohibiting broader dissemination of the reports — were not entitled to protection under the anti-SLAPP law.