L&A Counsel Thomas McNulty was featured in a recent PYMNTS article analyzing the ongoing legal challenges surrounding AI training and copyright law, following recent court victories by Meta and Anthropic.
In the article titled “AI Copyright Battles Continue Despite Meta, Anthropic Wins, Experts Say,” Tom provided critical legal perspective on the limitations and implications of two significant court rulings in the cases Bartz v. Anthropic and Kadrey v. Meta.
Tom cautioned against viewing these recent decisions as definitive victories for AI developers, stating: “While the Meta and Anthropic cases were definitely positive for AI developers, they should not be taken as definitive on the issue of fair use in using copyrighted materials to train AI programs.”
He highlighted a crucial legal split that emerged from the Anthropic ruling, noting: “The Anthropic court found that competition from non-infringing works is not the sort of thing that copyright law protects, so there is a split in the handling of this factor that will likely be addressed on appeal.”
Regarding the Meta decision, Tom observed that it “effectively sets forth a road map for plaintiffs in later-filed suits, particularly as the Meta court deemed this factor [of market harm] the ‘most important’ in the fair use analysis.”
Tom also identified several critical questions that remain unanswered around market harm liability and pointed out that the split in legal handling will likely be addressed on appeal.
The PYMNTS article, published July 14, 2025, featured Tom alongside other legal experts analyzing the broader implications of these rulings for the AI industry and content creators. The piece noted that these cases represent “the first significant judicial guidance” on applying fair use doctrine to AI model training.
Read the full article on PYMNTS.com.
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