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Copyright

Jenner & Block is a nationwide leader in helping content owners safeguard and monetize their intellectual property, enforce their rights, and defend against claims brought by others. Our lawyers represent most of the major media, technology, and entertainment companies on cutting-edge and emerging copyright issues like artificial intelligence and augmented and virtual reality.

We are among the nation’s leading practitioners in traditional copyright and entertainment litigation—named Law360’s “Practice Group of the Year” for Media & Entertainment eight times, and frequently recognized by legal and industry publications, including Chambers USA, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and Variety.

The impact of our copyright work stretches well beyond legal and commercial outcomes for our clients and into the general public’s daily life. We have handled many of the most consequential copyright cases in history and been intimately involved in negotiations leading to the enactment of most of the significant copyright legislation over the last 25 years, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and Music Modernization Act (MMA).

Our lawyers are at the forefront of shaping US copyright law and analyzing issues affecting traditional and high-tech content creators. Clients call upon us to analyze their most challenging copyright issues. We regularly counsel clients and “see around corners” on content protection and enforcement strategies and help them analyze complex issues concerning the application of copyright and related laws to evolving and emerging technologies and to new business models, platforms, and products.

Shaping the Direction of Copyright Law 

Throughout our history, we have shaped the direction of copyright law. Our lawyers have handled some of the most important copyright cases of our time, including MGM Studios v. Grokster, which The National Law Journal described as “the most important copyright challenge in decades,” Viacom v. YouTube, which has been called “the most high profile and momentous case in the copyright market,” and WNET v. Aereo, which The New York Times described as “a case with far-reaching implications” for the entertainment and technology industries.  More recently, our lawyers played a significant role in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith et al. in the US Supreme Court.

The Go-To Firm for Copyright Owners 

We are the firm of choice for film studios, record companies, authors, publishers, and other copyright owners of all kinds in high-profile litigation, spanning issues such as substantial similarity, secondary liability, fair use, anti-circumvention, renewal and termination rights, theft of ideas, and intellectual property joint ventures. Clients also frequently come to us for contractual disputes relating to content and rights acquisition and distribution, talent and artist agreements, and royalty rate accountings. These claims relate to subjects as varied as the scope of rights granted, the applicable rates for digital exploitation, the propriety of deductions taken, exploitation and collections by foreign subsidiaries, joint authorship, and many more.

We routinely work on copyright cases that shape how business is done—and how media and entertainment is consumed—throughout the country. By combining deep insight into the affected industries, broad legal experience, and technological knowledge and sophistication, we help our clients protect their content across all media and platforms. Because of this experience, a broad array of companies with valuable copyrights regularly call upon Jenner & Block.

Navigating an Evolving Technological Landscape 

Jenner & Block’s multidisciplinary team is at the forefront of guiding clients through fast-paced developments in emerging and disruptive areas including artificial intelligence, immersive computing, and online sports betting. We provide sophisticated insight and informed guidance on the myriad issues implicated by new technologies—including copyright and other intellectual property questions.

 

  • Represented Princeton University in litigation in the Northern District of California alleging copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation related to academic research into machine learning and computer vision, securing dismissal and summary judgment wins before reaching settlement.
  • Representing Disney, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery in landmark copyright infringement litigation against AI image and video generator services, Midjourney and MiniMax. The lawsuits challenge these services’ large-scale copyright infringement of the studios’ most iconic characters.
  • Representing News Corp and Dow Jones in a first-of-its-kind copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against Perplexity AI, alleging it scraped and repackaged proprietary news content without authorization for use in its retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system.
  • Obtained a complete victory for Evolution Media, a production company subsidiary of MGM Studios, in a copyright and contract dispute over music used in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The case involved application of the copyright work-for-hire doctrine and foreign royalty calculations for streaming distribution.
  • Successfully defended Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. against allegations it improperly based its hit show Empire on Sophia Eggleston’s memoir. Seeking millions of dollars in damages, Eggleston alleged that Fox and Empire executive producer Lee Daniels copied from her 2009 memoir when writing Taraji P. Henson’s character Cookie Lyon. The Eastern District of Michigan dismissed the copyright claim, finding, among other things, that copyright protection could not extend to biographical facts about the plaintiff’s life.
  • Represented Snoop Dogg, Gala Games, and Death Row Records in defending against a copyright infringement suit involving the exploitation of one of Snoop’s recent albums as part of an exclusive NFT offering.
  • Won early dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit based on the critically acclaimed movie Gone Girl on behalf of Twentieth Century Fox, author Gillian Flynn, director David Fincher, and producers Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea. The plaintiff alleged that Gone Girl infringed her screenplay. The court dismissed the case with prejudice on the grounds that the complaint failed to allege sufficient access and that the works were not substantially similar.
  • In a case of critical importance to the television industry, represented a consortium of broadcast television companies at every stage of litigation in a copyright case against Aereo, Inc., a company that captured over-the-air television programming and retransmitted that programming over the internet without the authority of the copyright owners. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of our clients, resulting in a monumental win for broadcasters and copyright owners.

Experience

  • Represented Princeton University in litigation in the Northern District of California alleging copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation related to academic research into machine learning and computer vision, securing dismissal and summary judgment wins before reaching settlement.
  • Representing Disney, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery in landmark copyright infringement litigation against AI image and video generator services, Midjourney and MiniMax. The lawsuits challenge these services’ large-scale copyright infringement of the studios’ most iconic characters.
  • Representing News Corp and Dow Jones in a first-of-its-kind copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against Perplexity AI, alleging it scraped and repackaged proprietary news content without authorization for use in its retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system.
  • Obtained a complete victory for Evolution Media, a production company subsidiary of MGM Studios, in a copyright and contract dispute over music used in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The case involved application of the copyright work-for-hire doctrine and foreign royalty calculations for streaming distribution.
  • Successfully defended Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. against allegations it improperly based its hit show Empire on Sophia Eggleston’s memoir. Seeking millions of dollars in damages, Eggleston alleged that Fox and Empire executive producer Lee Daniels copied from her 2009 memoir when writing Taraji P. Henson’s character Cookie Lyon. The Eastern District of Michigan dismissed the copyright claim, finding, among other things, that copyright protection could not extend to biographical facts about the plaintiff’s life.
  • Represented Snoop Dogg, Gala Games, and Death Row Records in defending against a copyright infringement suit involving the exploitation of one of Snoop’s recent albums as part of an exclusive NFT offering.
  • Won early dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit based on the critically acclaimed movie Gone Girl on behalf of Twentieth Century Fox, author Gillian Flynn, director David Fincher, and producers Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea. The plaintiff alleged that Gone Girl infringed her screenplay. The court dismissed the case with prejudice on the grounds that the complaint failed to allege sufficient access and that the works were not substantially similar.
  • In a case of critical importance to the television industry, represented a consortium of broadcast television companies at every stage of litigation in a copyright case against Aereo, Inc., a company that captured over-the-air television programming and retransmitted that programming over the internet without the authority of the copyright owners. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of our clients, resulting in a monumental win for broadcasters and copyright owners.
Copyright

Jenner & Block is a nationwide leader in helping content owners safeguard and monetize their intellectual property, enforce their rights, and defend against claims brought by others. Our lawyers represent most of the major media, technology, and entertainment companies on cutting-edge and emerging copyright issues like artificial intelligence and augmented and virtual reality.

We are among the nation’s leading practitioners in traditional copyright and entertainment litigation—named Law360’s “Practice Group of the Year” for Media & Entertainment eight times, and frequently recognized by legal and industry publications, including Chambers USA, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and Variety.

The impact of our copyright work stretches well beyond legal and commercial outcomes for our clients and into the general public’s daily life. We have handled many of the most consequential copyright cases in history and been intimately involved in negotiations leading to the enactment of most of the significant copyright legislation over the last 25 years, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and Music Modernization Act (MMA).

Our lawyers are at the forefront of shaping US copyright law and analyzing issues affecting traditional and high-tech content creators. Clients call upon us to analyze their most challenging copyright issues. We regularly counsel clients and “see around corners” on content protection and enforcement strategies and help them analyze complex issues concerning the application of copyright and related laws to evolving and emerging technologies and to new business models, platforms, and products.

Shaping the Direction of Copyright Law 

Throughout our history, we have shaped the direction of copyright law. Our lawyers have handled some of the most important copyright cases of our time, including MGM Studios v. Grokster, which The National Law Journal described as “the most important copyright challenge in decades,” Viacom v. YouTube, which has been called “the most high profile and momentous case in the copyright market,” and WNET v. Aereo, which The New York Times described as “a case with far-reaching implications” for the entertainment and technology industries.  More recently, our lawyers played a significant role in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith et al. in the US Supreme Court.

The Go-To Firm for Copyright Owners 

We are the firm of choice for film studios, record companies, authors, publishers, and other copyright owners of all kinds in high-profile litigation, spanning issues such as substantial similarity, secondary liability, fair use, anti-circumvention, renewal and termination rights, theft of ideas, and intellectual property joint ventures. Clients also frequently come to us for contractual disputes relating to content and rights acquisition and distribution, talent and artist agreements, and royalty rate accountings. These claims relate to subjects as varied as the scope of rights granted, the applicable rates for digital exploitation, the propriety of deductions taken, exploitation and collections by foreign subsidiaries, joint authorship, and many more.

We routinely work on copyright cases that shape how business is done—and how media and entertainment is consumed—throughout the country. By combining deep insight into the affected industries, broad legal experience, and technological knowledge and sophistication, we help our clients protect their content across all media and platforms. Because of this experience, a broad array of companies with valuable copyrights regularly call upon Jenner & Block.

Navigating an Evolving Technological Landscape 

Jenner & Block’s multidisciplinary team is at the forefront of guiding clients through fast-paced developments in emerging and disruptive areas including artificial intelligence, immersive computing, and online sports betting. We provide sophisticated insight and informed guidance on the myriad issues implicated by new technologies—including copyright and other intellectual property questions.

 

  • Represented Princeton University in litigation in the Northern District of California alleging copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation related to academic research into machine learning and computer vision, securing dismissal and summary judgment wins before reaching settlement.
  • Representing Disney, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery in landmark copyright infringement litigation against AI image and video generator services, Midjourney and MiniMax. The lawsuits challenge these services’ large-scale copyright infringement of the studios’ most iconic characters.
  • Representing News Corp and Dow Jones in a first-of-its-kind copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against Perplexity AI, alleging it scraped and repackaged proprietary news content without authorization for use in its retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system.
  • Obtained a complete victory for Evolution Media, a production company subsidiary of MGM Studios, in a copyright and contract dispute over music used in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The case involved application of the copyright work-for-hire doctrine and foreign royalty calculations for streaming distribution.
  • Successfully defended Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. against allegations it improperly based its hit show Empire on Sophia Eggleston’s memoir. Seeking millions of dollars in damages, Eggleston alleged that Fox and Empire executive producer Lee Daniels copied from her 2009 memoir when writing Taraji P. Henson’s character Cookie Lyon. The Eastern District of Michigan dismissed the copyright claim, finding, among other things, that copyright protection could not extend to biographical facts about the plaintiff’s life.
  • Represented Snoop Dogg, Gala Games, and Death Row Records in defending against a copyright infringement suit involving the exploitation of one of Snoop’s recent albums as part of an exclusive NFT offering.
  • Won early dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit based on the critically acclaimed movie Gone Girl on behalf of Twentieth Century Fox, author Gillian Flynn, director David Fincher, and producers Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea. The plaintiff alleged that Gone Girl infringed her screenplay. The court dismissed the case with prejudice on the grounds that the complaint failed to allege sufficient access and that the works were not substantially similar.
  • In a case of critical importance to the television industry, represented a consortium of broadcast television companies at every stage of litigation in a copyright case against Aereo, Inc., a company that captured over-the-air television programming and retransmitted that programming over the internet without the authority of the copyright owners. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of our clients, resulting in a monumental win for broadcasters and copyright owners.

Experience

  • Represented Princeton University in litigation in the Northern District of California alleging copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation related to academic research into machine learning and computer vision, securing dismissal and summary judgment wins before reaching settlement.
  • Representing Disney, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery in landmark copyright infringement litigation against AI image and video generator services, Midjourney and MiniMax. The lawsuits challenge these services’ large-scale copyright infringement of the studios’ most iconic characters.
  • Representing News Corp and Dow Jones in a first-of-its-kind copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against Perplexity AI, alleging it scraped and repackaged proprietary news content without authorization for use in its retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system.
  • Obtained a complete victory for Evolution Media, a production company subsidiary of MGM Studios, in a copyright and contract dispute over music used in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The case involved application of the copyright work-for-hire doctrine and foreign royalty calculations for streaming distribution.
  • Successfully defended Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. against allegations it improperly based its hit show Empire on Sophia Eggleston’s memoir. Seeking millions of dollars in damages, Eggleston alleged that Fox and Empire executive producer Lee Daniels copied from her 2009 memoir when writing Taraji P. Henson’s character Cookie Lyon. The Eastern District of Michigan dismissed the copyright claim, finding, among other things, that copyright protection could not extend to biographical facts about the plaintiff’s life.
  • Represented Snoop Dogg, Gala Games, and Death Row Records in defending against a copyright infringement suit involving the exploitation of one of Snoop’s recent albums as part of an exclusive NFT offering.
  • Won early dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit based on the critically acclaimed movie Gone Girl on behalf of Twentieth Century Fox, author Gillian Flynn, director David Fincher, and producers Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea. The plaintiff alleged that Gone Girl infringed her screenplay. The court dismissed the case with prejudice on the grounds that the complaint failed to allege sufficient access and that the works were not substantially similar.
  • In a case of critical importance to the television industry, represented a consortium of broadcast television companies at every stage of litigation in a copyright case against Aereo, Inc., a company that captured over-the-air television programming and retransmitted that programming over the internet without the authority of the copyright owners. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of our clients, resulting in a monumental win for broadcasters and copyright owners.

Co-Chairs

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Related Capabilities

AI Task Force
Antitrust and Competition Law
Business Litigation
Content, Media, and Entertainment
Education
Litigation
Patent Litigation and Counseling
Technology
Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants
Trademark, Advertising, and Unfair Competition

News and Insights

Recognition

2026 Chambers USA Recognizes 40 Practice Areas, 86 Lawyers from Jenner & Block

The Chambers USA 2026 guide has recognized Jenner & Block as a leading firm in 40 practice areas, with practice rankings in 17 national and 23 state categories, and 86 lawyers individually recommended across practice areas at the national and state level. Ranked firms and individuals demonstrate qualities most valued by clients, including technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service, commercial astuteness, diligence, and commitment.

June 4, 2026

Publications

Google’s Scraping Suit Highlights Section 1201’s Expansive Reach

In a recent article for Law360, Partner Cayman Mitchell and Associate Kevin Si examine Google's lawsuit against SerpApi and what it reveals about the breadth and versatility of Section 1201 of the Copyright Act.

March 16, 2026

Recognition

2025 Chambers USA Recognizes 38 Practice Areas, 81 Lawyers from Jenner & Block

The Chambers USA 2025 guide has recognized Jenner & Block as a leading firm in 38 practice areas, with practice rankings in 15 national and 23 state categories, and with 81 lawyers recommended across practice areas at the national and state level. Published annually, Chambers USA ranks outstanding lawyers and law firms across the United States based on in-depth market analysis and independent research.

June 5, 2025

Publications

Jenner & Block Lawyers Author Copyright Analysis in Lexology’s Panoramic: Copyright 2025

Partners Steve Englund, Andrew J. Thomas, and Lauren M. Greene authored the US analysis and introductory Global Overview in Lexology’s Panoramic: Copyright 2025. The authors discussed the evolution of the copyright legal landscape in response to technological advances.

May 30, 2025

Client Alerts

US Copyright Office Releases “Pre-Publication Version” of Report on Copyright Issues in Generative AI Training

On May 9, 2025, the US Copyright Office released a “pre-publication version” of Part 3 of its report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence (the Report).[1]This much-anticipated Report focuses on use of copyrighted works in the development of generative AI systems, and particularly (1) AI training-related activities that implicate copyrights, (2) the circumstances in which AI training may or may not qualify as fair use, and (3) licensing of copyrighted works for AI training. This is the culmin

May 13, 2025

Recognition

Chambers Global 2025 Recognizes Eight Jenner & Block Lawyers and Four Practices

The 2025 Chambers Global guide ranked Jenner & Block as a leading law firm in four practice areas: Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets (Band 2); Corporate Crime & Investigations (Band 3); Derivatives (Band 3); and Energy: Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation) (Band 3). The firm's Energy practice saw notable advancement in this year's rankings.

February 2025

Client Alerts

Court Decides that Use of Copyrighted Works in AI Training Is Not Fair Use: Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence Inc.

On February 11, 2025, Judge Bibas of the Third Circuit, sitting by designation in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, issued a decision granting partial summary judgment to Thomson Reuters in the closely watched case of Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence Inc. Judge Bibas revisited his 2023 decision largely denying summary judgment in the case due to disputed facts,[1]and the new decision is the first time a U.S. court has reached a conclusion concerning t

February 12, 2025

Recognition

Jenner & Block Named to The American Lawyer’s A-List

Jenner & Block has been named to The American Lawyer’s 2024 A-List, an annual list highlighting the 20 most well-rounded firms according to both financial and cultural criteria.

August 7, 2024

Client Alerts

U.S. Copyright Office Issues “Digital Replica” Report Finding Urgent Need for New Federal Legislation

Last year, the U.S. Copyright Office commenced a far-reaching policy study concerning copyright and related issues raised by the widespread availability and use of artificial intelligence (AI). This week, the Office released the first in what is expected to be a series of reports arising from the study – this one focused on digital replicas, or as they are often called, “deepfakes.”[1]The report concludes that “new federal legislation is urgently needed” to address the potential harms of digital

August 2, 2024

News

2024 Chambers USA Recognizes 35 Practice Areas, 76 Lawyers from Jenner & Block

Jenner & Block has been recognized as a leading firm across 35 practice areas in the 2024 edition of Chambers USA. The recognition includes practice rankings in 13 national and 22 state categories.

June 6, 2024

News

Four Jenner & Block Practice Areas and Seven Partners Recognized in Chambers Global 2024

The 2024 Chambers Global guide ranked Jenner & Block as a leading law firm in four practice areas: Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets; Derivatives; Corporate Crime & Investigations; and Energy: Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation).

February 16, 2024

News

Jenner & Block Partners Author Copyright Analysis in Getting the Deal Through

Jenner & Block Partners Steve Englund, Andrew J. Thomas, and Jacob Tracer, and Special Counsel Lauren Greene authored the US analysis and introductory Global Overview in Copyright 2023, published by Lexology Getting the Deal Through. The publication provides an overview of local copyright laws in 11 jurisdictions worldwide, serving as a valuable resource to understanding global copyright regulations.

June 8, 2023

Publications

Client Alert: Putting the “Use” Back in Fair Use: The Supreme Court Decides Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith

The Supreme Court’s recent and much-anticipated decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith redefines the contours of the fair use defense to copyright infringement. The Court ruled in favor of respondent Lynn Goldsmith, holding that the licensing to a magazine of an Andy Warhol print depicting the recording artist Prince did not constitute fair use of Goldsmith’s photograph on which the print was based. The Court’s analysis was limited to the first of the four stat

May 23, 2023

Publications

Client Alert: Copyright Registration for Works Containing AI-Generated Material

The rapid rise in availability, use and performance of generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) over the last year is being experienced across industries. Responding to these trends, the US Copyright Office recently published policy guidance on copyright protection and registration of works created using generative AI.[1] Overall, the guidance emphasizes the centrality of human creativity to copyright protection and reflects skepticism that material generated by current AI technologies is entit

April 10, 2023

News

Jenner & Block Team Secures Victory on Behalf of Record Labels in BitTorrent Piracy Trial

After a month-long trial in the Western District of Texas, a federal jury determined that Grande Communications Networks LLC must pay more than $46.7 million to a group of record labels, after its users pirated over 1,400 copyrighted songs.

November 6, 2022

News

Partner Andrew Thomas Named President of the Los Angeles Copyright Society

Jenner & Block Partner Andrew J. Thomas was recently named President of the Los Angeles Copyright Society, an organization whose roots go back more than 50 years. The Society serves in-house lawyers, outside counsel, and academics and sponsors a monthly speaker series from September through June each year on entertainment industry topics geared toward experienced copyright practitioners. 

September 19, 2022

News

“Warner Bros. Wins Copyright Ruling Against Sports Charity,” Law360

The team of Jenner & Block lawyers who represented Warner Bros. in the lawsuit is pleased to have helped resolve this litigation to the satisfaction of the parties.

June 17, 2022

News

Jenner & Block Team Authors Amicus Brief on Behalf of Copyright Alliance

A firm team represented Copyright Alliance, an organization that protects creators and innovators and their copyrights, as amicus curiae in the case SAS Institute Inc. v. World Programming Ltd. In the case, SAS sued World Programming for infringing its software’s copyright. Before trial, the lower court held a “Copyrightability Hearing” and determined that SAS’s software was not protectable; SAS appealed that decision to the Federal Circuit. In their amicus brief, the firm team sought to

June 1, 2021

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