IPWatchdog has learned from several sources this week that U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) Chief Judge Kimberly Moore has filed a judicial complaint against Judge Pauline Newman under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act. According to those who have seen the complaint, Moore is claiming she has probable cause to believe that Newman is unable to effectively discharge the duties of her office. Sources tell IPWatchdog that Chief Judge Moore primarily makes two separate allegations against Judge Newman. First, that Judge Newman is slow to issue opinions, which affects the administration of justice. Second, Moore has apparently heard stories from colleagues and others at the court that cause her to have concerns about Judge Newman’s overall ability to serve. Numerous staff and colleagues with knowledge of the complaint filed against Newman have contacted IPWatchdog to both confirm the filing of the complaint and to vehemently oppose the allegations being made about Judge Newman’s competence.

The U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) has announced a new statement of policy on “Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence” that will be published in the Federal Register tomorrow, March 16. The statement comes following several recent cases that have tested the bounds of copyright protection for works generated solely or in part by AI authors. Most recently, the USCO held in a case involving a graphic novel, Zarya of the Dawn, featuring AI-generated images that the copyright registration would be limited to the text of the novel, which was the product of human authorship. The Office there explained that the “the text of the graphic novel ‘as well as the selection, coordination, and arrangement of the Work’s written and visual elements’ are protectable under copyright law” but that the images themselves were not.

The Copyright Claims Board (CCB) has issued its first final decision since it was established by law in December 2020, finding in favor of a photographer who claimed a lawyer infringed his copyright by displaying one of his photographs on his law firm website. David Oppenheimer’s case against Douglas Prutton was referred to the CCB by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in April 2022, two months before the Board opened to receive claims. Oppenheimer said he discovered his aerial photograph of the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland, California on Prutton’s website in 2018, on a page titled “Where We Work.” Oppenheimer admitted that he copied and displayed the photograph without permission, but said his adult daughter actually found the photo and placed it on his site, and also argued fair use and unclean hands in defending his use of the work.