Judge Unlikely to Dismiss VMG Copyright Claims Against Meta

LOS ANGELES—A federal judge is not convinced of an argument made by attorneys representing the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta Platforms, that asks for a copyright claim brought by AVN Award-winning adult entertainment studio Vixen Media Group (VMG) be dismissed, AVN has confirmed. Meta is accused by VMG and its affiliated company, Strike 3 Holdings, of training Meta's artificial intelligence models using VMG's features and scenes from its deep catalog, alleging that this content was pirated by Meta, which denies any wrongdoing in the matter. The adult powerhouse claims more than $350 million in damages arising from this breach. According to Bloomberg Law, U.S. District Judge Eumi K. Lee of the Northern District of California expressed hesitation to dismiss the case this early in litigation, signaling she is likely to rule against Meta Platforms. Meta Platforms initially filed a motion to dismiss last year, arguing that downloads tracked to company-owned IP addresses were for “personal use” and involved nearly 2,400 copyrighted works. VMG responded just months ago that Meta infringed on these 2,400 copyrighted works by using algorithmic, non-human download patterns. No major ruling has yet been issued by Judge Lee.