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Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI. Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute endless unauthorized copies of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing,” the companies state in the complaint. The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didnt immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as kind of like a search engine pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. Can a person look at somebody elses picture and learn from it and make a similar picture? Holz said. Obviously, its allowed for people and if it wasnt, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, its sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like its fine. Major AI developers dont typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the fair use doctrine of American copyright law. The studios case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platformssuch as OpenAI, Anthropicin San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is underway in London, pitting Getty Images against artificial intelligence company Stability AI. Shawn Chen, AP technology writer
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E-Commerce
President Donald Trump’s quest to erase his criminal conviction heads to a federal appeals court Wednesday. It’s one way he’s trying to get last year’s hush money verdict overturned.A three-judge panel is set to hear arguments in Trump’s long-running fight to get the New York case moved from state court to federal court, where he could then try to have the verdict thrown out on presidential immunity grounds.The Republican is asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene after a lower-court judge twice rejected the move. As part of the request, Trump wants the federal appeals court to seize control of the criminal case and then ultimately decide his appeal of the verdict, which is now pending in a state appellate court.The 2nd Circuit should “determine once and for all that this unprecedented criminal prosecution of a former and current President of the United States belongs in federal court,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a court filing.The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted Trump’s case, wants it to stay in state court. Trump’s Justice Departmentnow partly run by his former criminal defense lawyersbacks his bid to move the case to federal court.If Trump loses, he could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.Trump was convicted in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, whose affair allegations threatened to upend his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump denies her claim and said he did nothing wrong. It was the only one of his four criminal cases to go to trial.Trump’s lawyers first sought to move the case to federal court following his March 2023 indictment, arguing that federal officers including former presidents have the right to be tried in federal court for charges arising from “conduct performed while in office.” Part of the criminal case involved checks he wrote while he was president.They tried again after his conviction, arguing that Trump’s historic prosecution violated his constitutional rights and ran afoul of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling, which was decided about a month after the hush money trial ended.The ruling reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president’s unofficial actions were illegal.U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied both requests, ruling in part that Trump’s conviction involved his personal life, not his work as president.In a four-page ruling, Hellerstein wrote that nothing about the high court’s ruling affected his prior conclusion that hush money payments at issue in Trump’s case “were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.”Trump’s lawyers argue that prosecutors rushed to trial instead of waiting for the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision, and that prosecutors erred by showing jurors evidence that should not have been allowed under the ruling, such as former White House staffers describing how Trump reacted to news coverage of the hush money deal and tweets he sent while president in 2018.Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanche is now the deputy U.S. attorney general, the Justice Department’s second-in-command. Another of his lawyers, Emil Bove, has a high-ranking Justice Department position.The trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, rejected Trump’s requests to throw out the conviction on presidential immunity grounds and sentenced him on Jan. 10 to an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction intact but sparing him any punishment.Appearing by video at his sentencing, Trump called the case a “political witch hunt,” “a weaponization of government” and “an embarrassment to New York.” Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
A federal appeals court agreed Tuesday to let the government keep collecting President Donald Trump’s sweeping import taxes while challenges to his signature trade policy continue on appeal.The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit extends a similar ruling it made after another federal court struck down the tariffs May 28, saying Trump had overstepped his authority. Noting that the challenges to Trump’s tariffs raise “issues of exceptional importance,” the appeals court said it would expedite the case and hear arguments July 31.The case involves 10% tariffs the president imposed on almost every country in April and bigger ones he imposed and then suspended on countries with which the United States runs trade deficits. It also involves tariffs Trump plastered on imports from China, Canada and Mexico to pressure them to do more to stop the illegal flow of immigrants and synthetic opioids across the U.S. border.In declaring the tariffs, Trump had invoked emergency powers under a 1977 law. But a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled he had exceeded his power.The tariffs upended global trade, paralyzed businesses and spooked financial markets. Paul Wiseman, AP Economics Writer
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E-Commerce
Google is offering buyouts to certain employees in the United States and requiring more workers to return to offices as it continues to shift toward AI. The voluntary exit program, as Google calls it, is being offered to employees on the communications, core, knowledge and information (which includes search, ads, and commerce), marketing, and research teams, Google confirmed with Fast Company on Wednesday. The buyouts would see Google provide employees with a pay and benefits package in exchange for their exit. “Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for US-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead, Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said in a statement. A number of teams are also asking remote employees who live near an office to return to a hybrid work schedule in order to bring folks more together in-person.” A new era for Google as search habits evolve The exact details of this deal are to follow, according to a memo reportedly sent by Jen Fitzpatrick, senior vice president of core systems. CNBC reports that mid- to senior-level employees in the Peoples Operations unit received up to 14 weeks of their salary plus another week for every completed year on the job during a previous buyout in February. CNBC and Business Insider reported on the memo on Tuesday. Fitzpatrick reportedly stated that AI is reshaping everythingour products, our tools, the way we work, how we work, how we innovate and so on. She continued, To meet this transformational moment, we need everyone to show up with an unparalleled sense of energy and enthusiasm for Cores mission, connecting and collaborating at speed so that we can tackle all of the ambitious work we need to do. Meeting the moment also means being willing to commute up to 50 miles to the office three times a week. In the same memo, Google reportedly announced that all employees within that distance of an approved return site must come in 60% of the time. Taking the stance that workers must show face to perform well, Google reportedly stated, We want to ensure Core Googlers are fully committed to being here and actively contributing. These programs will help us be even more focused on our mission and will enable us to operate with greater velocity, efficiency and collaboration. Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick reportedly noted that the buyouts are for employees who arent feeling excited about and aligned with Cores mission and goals, or those who are having difficulty meeting the demands of their role. In other words, if you feel behind at work, quitting might be the best option. Though the buyouts are voluntary, they could spell layoffs for those teams. In January, Google offered buyouts to employees in its platforms and devices division, only to lay off hundreds of workers in the unit a few months later. Google also laid off about 12,000 employees in January 2023 and has done multiple rounds of layoffs since.
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E-Commerce
U.S. inflation picked up a bit last month as food costs rose, though overall inflation remained mostly tame.Consumer prices increased 2.4% in May compared with a year ago, according to a Labor Department report released Wednesday. That is up from a 2.3% yearly increase in April. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.8% for the third straight month. Economists pay close attention to core prices because they generally provide a better sense of where inflation is headed.The figures suggest inflation remains stubbornly above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, which makes it less likely that the central bank will cut its key short-term interest rate. President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged the central bank to reduce borrowing costs.There were scattered signs that Trump’s tariffs may have contributed to some price increases, but the cost of some imported goods, such as clothing, fell in May from the previous month and many services, such as airline fares and hotel rooms, also dropped in price.On a monthly basis, overall prices ticked up just 0.1% from April to May, down from 0.2% previous month. Core prices also dropped to 0.1% from 0.2%.Grocery prices rose 0.3% from April to May, and are up 2.2% in the past year. Fruits and vegetables, breakfast cereals, and frozen foods all rose in price. Egg costs fell 2.7%, their second straight drop though they are still more than 40% more expensive than a year ago.Last week, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the inflation data, said it is reducing the amount of data it collects for each inflation report. Economists have expressed concern about the cutback, and while it isn’t clear how sharp the reduction is, most analysts say it is likely to have a minor impact. Still, any reduction in data collection could make the figures more volatile.Inflation has cooled in the past year and, excluding the impact of tariffs, economists say it would be on track to return to the Fed’s target, which would allow the central bank to cut its key interest rates. Yet core prices have been more stubborn and were stuck between 3.2% and 3.4% for nearly a year until February, when they started to decline. They have now been at 2.8% for three straight months.Nearly all economists expect Trump’s duties will make many things more expensive in the second half of this year, including cars and groceries, though by how much is still uncertain. Trump said Wednesday the U.S. will place 55% tariffs on all imports from China, up from the previous level of 30%. He has also imposed a 10% baseline tariff on imported goods from every other country, and 50% import taxes on steel and aluminum.Given the potential for higher prices in the coming months, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials have made clear they will keep their key rate unchanged until they have a better sense of how tariffs will affect the economy. Christopher Rugaber and Anne D’Innocenzio, Associated Press Writers
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E-Commerce
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