Highnine Talks About Copyright!

  Social media is a huge source of power for creators, but they also make your work susceptible to plagiarism, uncredited reposts, and unauthorized AI training. By posting your work on websites like Instagram or Pinterest, you may be granting them broad rights to use and share your work according to their terms of service. To protect yourself, always include a copyright statement (e.g., "©© Your Name 2025 - Do not Repost"), use watermarks, and do not post high-resolution pictures. You can also put in metadata with your name and copyrights, which establishes authorship in the event of disagreements. As AI scraping becomes more common, you must stay ahead of it. Sites such as Have I been Trained? allow you to check whether your work has been included in AI training sets. A few sites also allow you to opt out of being trained for AI. Be sure to check if those options exist. If your content is being misused, most sites have resources to report copyright infringement or submit a...

  Naruto, a macaque, took this self-portrait in 2011 with a camera owned by photographer David Slater. In 2011, British wildlife photographer David Slater ventured into the lush jungles of Indonesia to photograph crested black macaques. During his trip, one curious monkey named Naruto got hold of Slater’s camera and snapped a series of selfies, images that would later go viral on the internet. However, what started as a quirky moment in wildlife photography turned into a landmark legal case involving animal rights, copyright law, and the question of whether animals can own intellectual property. In 2015, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Naruto against Slater, claiming that the monkey, not the photographer, was the rightful owner of the now-famous selfie. PETA argued that since Naruto physically pressed the shutter button, he should be recognized as the author of the photograph under U.S. copyright law. This bold move by PETA sparked in...

  Image source: The New York Times Sources: Reuters , The New York Times Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the creative field. Tools like ChatGPT 4.0, Midjourney can now generate stunning works of art with just a few lines of text. But this raises a key question: can AI-generated content be copyrighted? One of the most famous cases is that of Jason M. Allen, a game designer from Colorado, who created an AI-assisted image called “Théâtre D'opéra Spatial”. The U.S. Copyright Office denied him copyright protection for this image. Background of the case In 2022, Jason M. Allen generated an image called “Théâtre D'opéra Spatial”. After that, he submitted it to the Colorado State Fair Art Competition, ultimately taking first place in the digital art category. He candidly states that he used AI, but emphasizes that he invested a significant amount of effort into selecting the cue words, adjusting the parameter settings, and editing the images. So he tried to copyright it. C...

Source: Independent.co.uk Eminem who is one of the most well-known rappers of our day is currently suing tech giant Meta for serious copyright violation. The lawsuit that was submitted on May 30 by his music publishing company which is Eight Mile Style claims that Meta unlawfully shared 243 of his songs on its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms, including hits like "Lose Yourself." According to reports, the songs were made accessible through Meta's "Music Libraries" and were featured in millions of user generated videos through Reels Remix and Original Audio. According to Eight Mile Style, this resulted in billions of illegal streams and massive profits for Meta which did not benefit the legitimate owners. The lawsuit seeks statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each song on each platform for a total of over $109 million. Despite claiming that it was negotiating with Eight Mile Style through Audiam, the publisher maintains that it never gave Audiam per...

Image sources: New Straits Times Sources: Malayan Law Journal , MalayMail (1) , MalayMail (2) and Linkedin  On November 24, 2014, Elias Idris, a writer of the novel Aku Bohsia, claimed that the movie Bohsia: Jangan Pilih Jalan Hitam directed by Syamsul Yusof had many similarities with his story and had copied his work. Elias filed a copyright lawsuit against Yusof Md Aslam (the producer), Syamsul Yusof (actor-director), and Skop Production (film production). He claimed the movie, released in 2009, shared similar plot, character, and message with his novel published in 1995.  However, the defendants, Yusof, Syamsul, and Skop Production are argued they had never seen or read the novel. They said any similarities were just coincidence, as the issue of "bohsia" is a common social problem. They also filed a countersuit against Elias over defamatory articles posted on his blog on November 7 and 16, 2014. The High Court ruled in favour of the defendants and ordered Elias to pay RM1...

Flame, a rapper says Perry ripped off his song, but an appeals court ruled that he was seeking an "improper monopoly" over basic musical elements. Picture from Katy Perry's Dark Horse music video Source : Billboard Legal News The top hit 'Dark Horse' by Katy Perry, released in 2014, was claimed to rip off a Christian rapper's song 'Joyful Noise'. The rapper sued Perry over accusations she had lifted a key 'ostinato' (a short series of notes that is repeated throughout a song) from his song and used it prominently in 'Dark Horse'. The case initially went well for Gray, who uses the stage name Flame, resulting a  $ 2 .8 million jury verdict against Perry in July 2019. But then came an influential ruling on 'Stairway to Heaven', which imposed key new limits on how copyrights cover basic aspects of music. Afterwards, Perry's verdict case was overturned in 2020. It was claimed that the 'ostinato' Perry was alleged copyin...