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AI copyright news, graded by source

Court rulings, company filings and allegations in the copyright cases against AI companies and pirate libraries, over books, articles, music, images, video and code. Checked for new filings every three hours; items are posted after review, so some appear later. Get these by e-mail · Court filings, free to read

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Plaintiffs' filingMay 1, 2026Kadrey v. Meta Platforms, Inc. · N.D. Cal. 3:23-cv-03417

Meta engineer told to torrent Anna's Archive in January 2024 objected that it was 'not very legal,' authors say, quoting Meta's documents

In a joint letter, the authors quote chats Meta produced in February 2026. In January 2024 an engineer assigned to download Anna's Archive wrote that the site exists to mirror sites taken down for hosting copyrighted material, that it resists scraping but can be torrented, and that torrenting, which he assumed meant seeding during the download, is "not very legal either." His manager replied that he did not think Meta's lawyers would approve of seeding. A colleague raised the question with in-house lawyers; the engineer then wrote that legal had been asked, in a message whose next lines are redacted, and still declined. The authors say the work passed to others and the torrenting went ahead in spring 2024. Meta's part of the letter does not deny that legal advice was sought, and argues that getting advice about a planned course of conduct does not defeat privilege. The quoted chats are Meta's documents; the surrounding account is the authors'.

Joint letter brief (Dkt. 721) ↗

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Every item says what kind of source it rests on. A court ruling or order is the court's own statement. A company filing is what a defendant says about itself. A government filing is a statement by a government agency that is not a party to the case, such as a statement of interest; it is the government's position, not a ruling. An allegation is what a complaint or motion claims and has not been decided. Reported means press reporting we have not confirmed from the primary document. Summaries are our own; follow the links for the source.

This page is general information, not legal advice. An allegation is not a finding. Whether any of this matters for a particular work or claim is a question for a lawyer.