pop culture

Intelligence Across Boundaries: Jane Goodall’s Legacy in the Age of Artificial Minds

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SUMMARY Jane Goodall’s passing marks the end of a transformative life that redefined our understanding of intelligence across species boundaries. Her decades of chimpanzee research revealed tool use, emotional depth and cultural transmission in non-human primates, challenging human exceptionalism. Her legacy now resonates with contemporary AI development, as both biological and artificial intelligence compel us … Read more

Beyond Yelp: Using AI to Pick Restaurants

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SUMMARY AI revolutionizes restaurant selection by acting as an intelligent dining consultant that processes multiple preferences simultaneously, delivers tailored recommendations and secures reservations. Unlike traditional review sites or random choices, AI understands nuanced criteria and analyzes large volumes of feedback to identify ideal dining options, including real-time wait times and availability. By enabling personalized, efficient … Read more

Why Isn’t Publishers Clearing House Paying Its Prize Winners?

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SUMMARY Publishers Clearing House (PCH) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2025 due to declining magazine sales, heavy debt and an $18.5 million FTC settlement for misleading sweepstakes marketing. Despite initially assuring uninterrupted payments, PCH ceased lifetime prize payouts by July 2025 after ARB Interactive acquired its assets but not liabilities. Past winners, including … Read more

All Mariah Carey Wanted for Christmas Was for You to Stop Suing Her

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The holiday season brought an early gift for Mariah Carey as she successfully defended against a copyright infringement lawsuit that threatened one of the most beloved Christmas songs of all time. The case serves as an important reminder for practitioners about the stringent requirements for proving musical copyright infringement and the risks of pursuing weak … Read more

Supreme Court: States Can Card You Online

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The Supreme Court upheld Texas’s H.B. 1181, a law requiring commercial websites that distribute sexually explicit content to verify that users are at least 18 years old. The law targets material considered obscene for minors but not necessarily for adults. Petitioners representing the pornography industry challenged the statute as a violation of the First Amendment, … Read more

Science Fiction Cinema’s Lessons for AI Integration in Legal Practice

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This article was originally published in the April 2025 issue of New Jersey Lawyer, a publication of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and is reprinted with permission. Recent developments, such as the California Bar’s 2024 guidelines on AI use in legal practice, underscore the urgency of challenges faced by law firms in balancing technological … Read more

Disney and Others Sue Midjourney

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Disney and NBCUniversal have initiated a landmark federal lawsuit against Midjourney, a generative AI company, accusing it of massive copyright infringement involving unauthorized use of their copyrighted characters to train its AI and generate images and soon videos. The 110-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that … Read more

The Hype Cycle and Amara’s Law

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Amara’s Law, coined by futurist Roy Amara, encapsulates a critical observation about our perceptions of technological advancements: “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” This principle serves as a guiding framework for understanding the lifecycle of new technologies, highlighting both the … Read more

Is Shark Tank for Real?

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The television show Shark Tank provides an engaging glimpse into the world of business investing, but the reality of venture capital is considerably more nuanced than the show’s dramatic portrayal suggests. While the series captures the excitement of entrepreneurial pitches and deal-making, it significantly simplifies the actual processes of venture investment. The television show typically … Read more

Navigating the Legal Minefield of AI-Generated Defamation

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The emergence of AI-generated content platforms like SORA has ushered in a new era of creative possibilities, simultaneously unveiling a complex legal landscape fraught with challenges. At the forefront of these challenges lies defamation, a critical issue that highlights the tension between technological innovation and personal reputation. Defamation law has long protected individuals from false … Read more

Marvel and DC Lose “Super Heroes” Trademark

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In a striking development, Marvel Characters, Inc. and DC Comics have lost their trademark registrations for “SUPER HEROES” and “SUPER HERO” through a default judgment issued by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) on September 26, 2024. The Historical Journey of “Super Hero” The path to this moment began not with Marvel or DC, … Read more

Blade Runner vs. Elon Musk’s Cybercab

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In a case that echoes recent AI-related intellectual property disputes like Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit over her voice being used without permission in AI training, Alcon Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against Tesla, Elon Musk, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBDI) over the unauthorized use of Blade Runner 2049 imagery during Tesla’s cybercab launch event. The drama … Read more