September Newsbreak

NewsLegalconferenceCopyrightSummit
Written By Leslie@dmla.org

In this issue of Newsbreak:

  • Leadership + AI Summit

  • Copyright Corner

    • Copyright Registration Fees Going Into Effect

    • DMLA Joins Creator Organizations in Amicus Brief Addressing AI Training and Market Harm

    • Sony v. Anthropic

    • Bytedance & MPA deal

  • DMLA: Webinars / Member / Industry News

  • Upcoming Industry Events

The Leadership + AI Summit is a just few weeks away!

Leadership in the Changing Digital Media Ecosystem

  • What does effective leadership look like when the digital media landscape is changing faster than ever?

  • How are leaders navigating AI, shifting business models, trust, authenticity and emerging technologies - while preparing their organizations for what comes next?

Building a Digital Media Ecosystem We Can Trust

  • What does it take to build an AI ecosystem we can actually trust?

  • Can provenance, authenticity, and licensing become infrastructure for the AI economy?

Roundtables Discussions, including:

  • The Ethics of AI use in Media

  • Is there a future for DAM in the age of AI?

If you have been considering attending, now is the time to register to ensure your spot. The sessions will be closed and will not be recorded to ensure open dialogue from the speakers.

Registration is all inclusive and includes:

Networking Lunch
Summit Sessions
DMLA Celebratory Reception (75 Years)

LEARN MORE
REGISTER FOR THE LEADERSHIP + AI SUMMIT
 

DMLA Webinars:

Editorial in the Age of AI
Roundtable

September 10, 2026 | 2:00 PM EDT
Zoom Roundtable

How is AI reshaping Editorial and Archival imagery?

Explore shifting demand, new opportunities, and ways to stand out in an AI-driven market AI-generated imagery is rapidly reshaping the market for traditional stock photography. What does that mean for Editorial and Archive collections?

Join DMLA members, Thomas Smith of Gado Images and Jonathan Wells of SIPA USA for an open, spirited discussion on the state of the Editorial industry in an increasingly AI-driven world. Topics will include:

  • How AI imagery is affecting demand for Editorial and archival materials

  • Whether AI is hurting or creating new opportunities for Editorial content

  • What Editorial best practices Creative photographers can apply to make their work more distinctive and valuable

  • How archives, provenance, authenticity, access, and real-world documentation may become even more important in the AI era

  • New markets and licensing opportunities emerging for Editorial and archival imagery


Thomas Smith
Co-Founder & CEO
Gado Images
Vice President, DMLA

Jonathan Wells
President
SIPA USA
Treasurer, DMLA

Register for Webinar

Copyright Corner

Copyright Registration Fees

Proposes Increases could go into effect in mid-November

In the August Newsbreak, we published a more detailed account of the increase in fees that have been proposed to Congress by the U.S. Copyright Office. This month we want to remind members that Congress has 120 days to enact legislation disapproving the proposal; otherwise, the new fees are expected to take effect this fall - likely in November.

These increases include:

General Applications (All Artists)

  • Single Application (1 work, 1 author): Rises from $45 to $55.

  • Standard Application (Default single work): Rises from $65 to $85.

  • Group Registration of Unpublished Works (GRUW - up to 10 works): Rises from $85 to $130.

For Photographers

  • Group Registration of Published Photographs (up to 750 images): Rises from $55 to $85.

  • Group Registration of Unpublished Photographs (up to 750 images): Rises from $55 to$85.

For Painters, Illustrators, & 2D Graphic Artists

  • Group Registration for Two-Dimensional Artwork (GR2D): Rises from $85 to $130.
    (Note: The GR2D filing option allows you to register 2 to 20 published 2D artworks under a single application, provided they share the same author/claimant and were published within the same 3-month window).

Recordation & Administrative Changes

  • Electronic Recordation (Filing a Transfer or Agreement): Rises from $95 to $215. (Necessary if you are officially selling or transferring the copyright of your work to someone else).

  • Notice of Termination: Rises from $125 to $275. (Used by creators to reclaim rights they previously licensed away).

  • Special Handling (Expedited Processing): Rises from $800 to $1,100. (If you need an immediate registration to file a copyright lawsuit).

  • Paper Applications: Rises from $125 to $185. (Filings submitted by physical mail instead of the eCO Registration System).


More information may be found HERE

Why it matters: For photographers, agencies, archives and other high-volume visual-content businesses, registration costs directly affect how many works are registered—and ultimately how effectively those works can be protected. DMLA continues to believe that participation in the registration system should be treated as a measure of its success, and that fee structures should not discourage creators and rightsholders from registering their work.

The U. S. Copyright Office says it is continuing to study alternative structures including tiered and subscription pricing, informed by comments received earlier this year.

DMLA is working with the Copyright Alliance to share our feedback with Congress.

Would you like to support DMLA and help us develop our education and advocacy programs? Become a sponsor.

Contact DMLA at admin@dmla.org


Many thanks to DMLA Sponsors, who help to make our work possible:

DMLA Joins Creator Organizations in
Amicus Brief Addressing AI Training and Market Harm

The Digital Media Leadership Alliance has joined the Authors Guild and a coalition of creator organizations in an amicus brief filed in In re Mosaic LLM Litigation, a closely watched copyright case involving the use of copyrighted works to train generative AI systems.

Filed August 27, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the brief opposes the defendants’ motion for summary judgment and argues that the unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted literary works to train the defendants’ StoryWriter platform does not qualify as fair use.

At the center of the brief is a growing question for creators, licensors and technology companies alike: When generative AI systems are trained on copyrighted works and then used to create competing content, how should courts evaluate the resulting market harm?

Read full article HERE

The Copyright Act Turns 50: An Inside View from the Copyright Office

The U.S. Copyright Office invites you to register to attend the event The Copyright Act Turns 50: An Inside View from the Copyright Office on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. eastern time.

The ninety-minute event will focus on the Copyright Office’s role in the development, administration, and later updates of the Copyright Act of 1976 through an insider’s lens, with contributions from individuals who participated as staff at the Copyright Office or on Capitol Hill.

Read the full article HERE

Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell filed a major copyright lawsuit against Anthropic

Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell filed a major copyright lawsuit against Anthropic at the end of August, alleging unauthorized use of copyrighted lyrics and music in AI training.

Read more HERE

ByteDance and the MPA reach an AI copyright agreement

ByteDance and the Motion Picture Association reached an agreement in August addressing copyright protections around ByteDance's Seedance video-generation and Seedream image-generation tools. It followed earlier concerns raised by the MPA about copyrighted characters and works appearing in generated content.

Read more HERE

DMLA Member News:

European Alliance of News Agencies joins the SPUR Coalition as affiliate member

The European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), representing 33 leading news agencies across Europe, has become an affiliate member of the SPUR Coalition, the industry initiative shaping the rules, standards, and infrastructure that enable a fair and constructive working relationship between the news media and AI platforms.

The SPUR Coalition, initiated by organisations including the BBC, Financial Times, Sky News, Guardian Media Group, and Telegraph Media Group, works to shape the technical and commercial environment in which intellectual property owners can control and monitor the use of their content by generative AI applications.

By joining the SPUR Coalition, EANA reinforces its commitment to ensuring that the collective voice of its member news agencies is heard in the global debate on how original journalism is valued, protected, and remunerated in the era of generative artificial intelligence.

Read the press release HERE

Shutterstock puts licensable content directly inside Claude

On August 12, Shutterstock launched a connector for Anthropic's Claude that lets users discover and license images, video, music and sound effects directly within Claude workflows. Shutterstock explicitly describes this as part of its strategy to put rights-cleared content inside AI-native creative workflows.Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Read more HERE

Interested in DMLA Membership?

‍‍Benefits of Membership‍
Join Us
Committees‍
‍ AI/Copyright Group‍
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Leslie@dmla.org https://dmla.org
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Shutterstock Brings High-Quality Images, Videos, Music, and Sound Effects to Anthropic's Claude