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Report: Potential NYT lawsuit could force OpenAI to wipe ChatGPT and start over (arstechnica.com)

submitted 10 months ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

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[-] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I agree with the summary of the situation in your first paragraph.

Your second paragraph about sound mimickry, as far as I'm aware, is not accurate. Musicians have been ordered to pay for much less than rote mimickry, even simple things like using the same melody or beat as a backing track have been ruled as infringement. In the US, at least.

And I agree with the 3rd paragraph.

So I believe my original question still stands: should an artificial brain be required to pay licensing fees for everything it sees?

[-] BarryZuckerkorn@beehaw.org 2 points 10 months ago

Your second paragraph about sound mimickry, as far as I’m aware, is not accurate.

It is. The recording copyright is separate from the musical composition copyright. Here's the statute governing the rights to use a recording:

The exclusive rights of the owner of copyright in a sound recording under clauses (1) and (2) of section 106 do not extend to the making or duplication of another sound recording that consists entirely of an independent fixation of other sounds, even though such sounds imitate or simulate those in the copyrighted sound recording.

So if I want to go record a version of "I Will Always Love You" that mimics and is inspired by Whitney Houston's performance, I actually only owe compensation to the owner of the musical composition copyright, Dolly Parton. Even if I manage to make it sound just like Whitney Houston, her estate doesn't hold any rights to anything other than the actual sounds actually captured in that recording.

[-] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 1 points 10 months ago

Ahh, TIL, thanks for the explanation.

[-] yum13241@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

Then explain how Bobby Prince could literally steal a South Park song to make "Shawn's Got the Shotgun" to make Doom 2.

[-] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 months ago

I'm not familiar with the situation, but I imagine if Southpark went around suing people for using their stuff, people wouldn't take them seriously. Virtually everything in Southpark relies on their abuse of Fair Use. Just because it IS infringement, doesn't mean you have to sue them.

It looks like there are a few other tracks that Bobby Prince is responsible for that made it into Doom. In this interview he states that he made them for fun, labeled the files to not be used in the final game, and was surprised id even had copies. When Romero made the decision to include them in the game, Bobby (who is/was a lawyer apparently) says he was sure they would get sued.

[-] yum13241@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

And they didn't, because back then people didn't abuse Micky Mouse copyright law.

Yes I know about the MIDIs labeled with un, meaning use not. That still doesn't explain Running From Evil, At Dooms Gate, or literally any other song.