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For our seventh episode of Reel Talk: Inside the Business of Entertainment, I sat down with my colleague Tal Dickstein, a Litigation partner here at Loeb & Loeb, to talk about his work as an IP and entertainment litigator and the new legal challenges of protecting creative works as artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes take off. I work with Tal all the time on matters for my production company clients, so this one was a particular pleasure. And yes, Tal pointed out that it's episode 007.
Tal helps content creators, owners and distributors resolve disputes and get the most value from their works. His clients include record labels, music publishers, artists, filmmakers, TV producers, networks and streaming platforms. His matters range from copyright infringement and substantial similarity analysis to licensing, contract and royalty disputes, along with questions about whether distributors actually acquired the rights they think they have. He also does pre-broadcast review, looking at films and series for copyright, defamation, privacy and right of publicity risks before release.
Some highlights from our conversation:
Fair use after Warhol: Tal's test comes down to two questions: Why was the work originally created, and why are you using it now? Body cam footage or a subject's own promotional content used for criticism or reporting can be transformative. Using news footage just to retell what happened, with no commentary, is far riskier.
Defamation review: For public figures, a claim requires actual malice, so careful corroboration is key. In some states, anti-SLAPP laws can end meritless claims early and may allow defendants to recover attorneys' fees.
AI litigation: More than 150 lawsuits have been filed over AI training data. Tal's hot take is that training on music to create more music may not be found to be fair use, even though two courts found that training on books was.
Deepfakes and digital replicas: We covered state right of publicity laws that now address digital replicas, contract and guild limits on AI use, and the proposed federal NO FAKES Act, which in its most recent version would not preempt state law.
What's next: Tal expects more clarity on whether AI outputs can be copyrighted, and he advises clients to document human contributions to their work. He's also watching whether copyright termination rights apply worldwide, a question that may go to the Supreme Court.
Tal also mentioned Loeb's IP / Entertainment Law Weekly Update, which he co-edits. The archive of case summaries goes back more than 10 years, so it's worth subscribing.
Catch the full episode below.
