The long-running legal tussle between Apple and Epic Games picked up another ruling, in the former’s favor, although the three-judge panel also upheld a part of the original ruling in Epic’s favor. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling, which rejected most of Epic’s claims that Apple violated federal competition law by prohibiting other app stores on its devices.
“There is a lively and important debate about the role played in our economy and democracy by online transaction platforms with market power,” the panel wrote in the decision. “Our job as a federal court of appeals, however, is not to resolve that debate — nor could we even attempt to do so. Instead, in this decision, we faithfully applied existing precedent to the facts.” In short, the ruling maintains the status quo – unless further appeals move the case to a higher court.
– Mat Smith
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“Feel free to use my voice without penalty,” the artist tweeted.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Canadian musician Grimes says AI artists can use her voice without worrying about copyright or legal enforcement. “I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI-generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist I collab with,” she tweeted on Sunday.
It comes after streaming platforms removed an AI-generated song using simulated voices of Drake and The Weeknd. Universal Music Group (UMG), which represents both artists, called for the purge after “Heart on My Sleeve” garnered over 15 million listens on TikTok and 600,000 on Spotify. UMG argued that publishing a song trained on its artists’ voices was “a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law.”
It hopes to head off an EU investigation, but ‘a deal is not certain.’
Microsoft has agreed to stop bundling its Teams remote collaboration software with its Office productivity suite, according to the Financial Times. The company’s move attempts to head off an official EU antitrust investigation as it deals with its most significant regulatory concerns in over a decade. The FT’s sources say companies will eventually be able to buy Office with or without Teams installed, “but the mechanism on how to do this remains unclear.” Microsoft is facing its first regulatory issues in a decade. The company agreed to a settlement with the European Commission in 2009, offering European customers a choice of web browsers; it was fined €561 million in 2013 for failing to adhere consistently to that ruling.
There are also annotation improvements and a two-column layout.
The Kindle Scribe will soon be able to send documents directly from Microsoft Word to the e-reader with just a few clicks. This means you can read documents on the go or physically annotate them using the touchscreen and a Scribe pen. There’s also a new multi-column layout for reading two pages at once.
Pre-orders will open on Kickstarter this fall.
Activision has teamed up with board game publisher Arcane Wonders, along with Genuine Entertainment and Evolution to make the game. Call of Duty: The Board Game is said to be a fast-paced blend of combat, strategy and tactical planning. However, what that means in the context of a board game is unclear. Also, does multibillion-dollar publisher Activision really need to be selling its wares on Kickstarter?
