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Copyright, AI & onions

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Don’t cry! Ciara Cullen, Joshy Thomas & Emma Dunnill peel back the many layers of content scraping & copyright
  • The interaction between AI and copyright is both a top news item and the subject of numerous court actions and licensing disputes globally.
  • A UK government consultation on AI and Copyright has recently closed, producing thousands of responses, which the government is currently processing.

‘Copyright law is like an onion—it has many layers, and it will make you cry’ (Caroline Wilson, as retweeted by Tim Berners-Lee).

The lachrymatory interaction between artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright remains both a top news item and the subject of numerous court actions and licensing disputes globally. The main issue stems from the way that the majority of generative AI (gen AI) models, such as ChatGPT, have been and are trained. The use of works scraped from the internet for training is alleged to infringe copyright in the works of content creators. A key separate issue, also the

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

National Pro Bono Centre—Esther McConnell & Sarah Oliver Scemla

National Pro Bono Centre—Esther McConnell & Sarah Oliver Scemla

Charity strengthens leadership as national Pro Bono Week takes place

Michelman Robinson—Akshay Sewlikar

Michelman Robinson—Akshay Sewlikar

Dual-qualified partner joins London disputes practice

McDermott Will & Schulte—Karen Butler

McDermott Will & Schulte—Karen Butler

Transactions practice welcomes partner in London office

NEWS
NLJ columnist Stephen Gold dives into the quirks of civil practice, from the Court of Appeal’s fierce defence of form N510 to fresh reminders about compliance and interest claims, in this week's Civil Way
In this week's NLJ, Sophie Houghton of LexisPSL distils the key lesson from recent costs cases: if you want to exceed guideline hourly rates (GHR), you must prove why
With chronic underfunding and rising demand leaving thousands without legal help, technology could transform access to justice—if handled wisely, writes Professor Sue Prince of the University of Exeter in this week's NLJ
Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] EWHC 2341 (KB) has restated a fundamental truth, writes John Gould, chair of Russell-Cooke, in this week's NLJ: only authorised persons can conduct litigation. The decision sparked alarm, but Gould stresses it merely confirms the Legal Services Act 2007
The government’s decision to make the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) the Single Professional Services Supervisor marks a watershed in the UK’s fight against money laundering, says Rebecca Hughes of Corker Binning in this week's NLJ. The FCA will now oversee 60,000 firms across legal and accountancy sectors—a massive expansion of remit that raises questions over resources and readiness 
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