AI Legal Ethics, AI Copyright Update, Ruling in Copyright Grant Termination
Join us for the Entertainment Law Update Podcast with music lawyer Tamera Bennett and film attorney Gordon Firemark.
Texas Legal Ethics Opinion on Generative AI
In February 2025, the Texas Commission on Professional (Legal) Ethics answered the question: What ethical issues are raised under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct by a lawyer’s use of generative artificial intelligence in the practice of law? Texas lawyers must be aware of ethical issues that arise from using generative AI. Lawyers should always have basic technological competency, verify responses generated by AI, they may have a duty to notify clients about the use of generative AI, and Texas lawyers cannot charge clients for time-saved by using generative AI.
Copyright Law and AI Corner Update
The US Copyright Office issued part 2 of their Artificial Intelligence Report on January 29, 2025. The report concludes, “that the outputs of generative AI can be protected by copyright only where a human author has determined sufficient expressive elements. This can include situations where a human-authored work is perceptible in an AI output, or a human makes creative arrangements or modifications of the output, but not the mere provision of prompts.”
Listen to the Entertainment Law Update Podcast for a deeper dive on the Copyright Office report and updates from two recent copyright applications in which registrations were issued for portions of the work created by generative AI.
Copyright Grant Termination Law Update
We have a new ruling in Vetter v. Resnik, No. 23-1369-SDD-EWD (M.D. La. Jan. 29, 2025). In a case discussed in detail in Entertainment Law Update podcast episodes 177 and 171, the judge granted a Motion for Summary Judgment in favor Plaintiff/songwriter Cyril E. Vetter as the sole owner throughout the world in his interest in the song copyright of “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love).” This ruling is in direct contradiction to the standard that copyright grant terminations are only effective for the U.S. Copyright and not effective to terminate grants outside the United States of America.
These cases and much more on this Episode of Entertainment Law Update with inherited copyright lawyer Tamera Bennett and film, TV, and podcast lawyer Gordon Firemark.
Resources
