Some are outraged by a version for people ‘intimidated’ by word games. Take it from me: Scrabble rules are for breaking It’s “a terrible indictment of our education system”, “a sad, sad indictment of modern society” and a move that will mean “future generations will be deprived of their full potential”. This was the reaction of outraged commenters to the launch of a new edition of Scrabble called Scrabble Together. Mattel’s update of the 75-year-old tile-laying word game includes a mode in which players collaborate to make words and score the most points as a team. Cards give players hints to ..read more

Questions surround ownership of demo tapes reportedly left by soul artist as a thank-you to his Ostend hosts A collection of cassette tapes containing a host of unreleased Marvin Gaye songs has been found in the Belgian city of Ostend. It has potentially lain hidden in Belgium for over 40 years, according to the BBC ..read more

Ahead of London fashion week, optimists believe new tools can open up an industry that can be elitist – and costly to enter The impact of artificial intelligence on the creative industries is a subject that has prompted widespread anxiety about job losses and the death of imagination, and the world of fashion is no exception. But this month’s London fashion week, marking the event’s 40th anniversary, will showcase a host of AI-generated outfits and industry insiders have expressed a growing optimism about what the technology can do for the sector – from improving diversity to shortening the pa ..read more

House of Lords committee says copyright laws fall short as tech companies lift content without permission Ministers must defend content creators whose work is being taken without permission by tech companies to build artificial intelligence products such as chatbots that generate “vast financial rewards”, a House of Lords committee has said. The legal framework in the UK is failing to enforce the basic principles of copyright amid a rise in AI development, said the Lords’ communications and digital committee ..read more

US lawyers approached about class action against Midjourney and other AI firms accused of ‘copyright laundering’ Since the emergence of Midjourney and other image generators, artists have been watching and wondering whether AI is a great opportunity or an existential threat. Now, after a list of 16,000 names emerged of artists whose work Midjourney had allegedly used to train its AI – including Bridget Riley, Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, Tracey Emin, David Hockney and Anish Kapoor – the art world has issued a call to arms against the technologists. British artists have contacted US lawyers ..read more

Image library CEO speaks out amid anger over harvesting of material for ‘training data’ for AI companies Rishi Sunak needs to decide whether he wants to back the UK’s creative industries or gamble everything on an artificial intelligence boom, the chief executive of Getty Images has said. Craig Peters, who has led the image library since 2019, spoke out amid growing anger from the creative and media sector at the harvesting of their material for “training data” for AI companies. His company is suing a number of AI image generators in the UK and US for copyright infringement ..read more

With studios desperate for other franchises to exploit, I wondered about the toys I’d kept from my childhood – could there be hidden gold among my obscure action figures? Recently my mother was gathering up the last of my childhood toys in a bin bag, for me to either pass on to my own kids or dispense with. It happened to be just at that moment in the summer when Barbie was making a fortune at the box office. Greta Gerwig’s movie about a Mattel-made doll was a sensation, and dozens of other toy-to-screen adaptations were said to be coming in Barbie’s wake, for instance a Lena Dunham-written ve ..read more

Steamboat Willie, created by Walt Disney, to enter public domain after 95 years – taking earliest Minnie with him It’s been a challenging centenary year for Disney, and the world’s largest and most prominent entertainment company is having to end it with an emotional “so long!” to its oldest friend, Mickey Mouse. To be clear, it’s not the Mickey Mouse, iconic centerpiece of countless elementary school lunch bags, T-shirts and baseball caps, who is leaving the happiest place on earth when his copyright protection expires on 1 January ..read more

‘Frog seller’ trend sparks debate on intellectual property amid concerns over copyright infringement An anthropomorphised frog has joined celebrity live-streamers and social media commentators among China’s ranks of influencers, as a trend that began with street sellers in Chinese cities takes on a new life online – and raised questions over who, if anyone, owns the intellectual property rights to a dancing amphibian. Alternatively known as a “frog seller” or “frog influencer”, the meme involves a person in a frog suit with a blue neckerchief selling frog-themed products such as balloons and t ..read more

Demetrious Polychron ordered to destroy all copies of The Fellowship of the King after claiming Amazon prequel infringed his copyright A Lord of the Rings fanfiction writer has lost a copyright lawsuit over the publication of his own sequel to the much-loved series after opening up a counterproductive legal battle against JRR Tolkien’s estate. The US-based author Demetrious Polychron published what he described as the “pitch-perfect” Lord of the Rings follow-up in 2022, titled The Fellowship of the King. He planned for the book to be the first of a seven-part series inspired by the franchise ..read more