Here are the stories Today in Books readers were most interested in this week. Settle into your Sunday and catch up!
Thomson Reuters Wins AI Copyright Suit
In what has the potential to be a landmark decision, Thomson Reuters has won the first major AI copyright case in the U.S. The media and technology holding company filed suit against Ross Intelligence, a legal AI startup, in 2020, alleging that Ross reproduced documents from Westlaw, a legal research firm in its holdings. In a summary judgment, US District Court of Delaware judge Stephanos Bibas found in Thomson Reuters’ favor, stating that, “None of Ross’s possible defenses holds water. I reject them all.” Ouch.
Here’s what publishing will be paying most attention to: key to the ruling is Bibas’s determination that Ross Intelligence’s use of copyrighted material fell outside the protections of the fair use doctrine. This doesn’t bode well for other AI companies facing similar suits, as fair use is a linchpin of their defenses for things like, oh, you know, using copyrighted material from 183,000 books to train large language models. This is an encouraging result, but don’t pop your bottles just yet. We are still in the early days of what is certain to be a years-long process, this ruling will almost certainly be appealed, the law remains years behind AI’s development, and the current administration seems pretty friendly to tech’s “move fast and break things” approach. One to watch, for sure.
Data Show Comics & Graphic Novels Are Good for Kids
Sales of graphic novels have nearly doubled in the last five years, making them one of the most popular genres in the publishing industry. Only romance and general fiction perform better. Young readers are a key driver of the trend, as recent surveys show a 69% increase in the popularity of graphic novels among elementary school children. The boom is great news for the books business, but a majority of school librarians report that teachers and parents remain skeptical and “don’t think it’s a legitimate form of literature.” Handwringing over comics is nothing new, but it is likely unnecessary. While parents and educators have good reason to be concerned about kids’ literacy—research shows sharp declines in both reading frequency and enjoyment as students age from elementary school to high school—a 2023 survey from the National Literacy Trust found that kids who read comics and graphic novels for leisure were twice as likely as those who don’t read the genre to report that they 1) enjoyed reading and 2) felt that they were good readers. How about them apples.
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Fare Thee Well, Tom Robbins
The novelist Tom Robbins has died at the age of 92. Known for infusing his work with humor and whimsy, Robbins penned bestsellers—Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Skinny Legs and All, Jitterbug Perfume—in addition to essays that revealed a voracious curiosity. Robbins, who was aware that “establishment critics…write me off as a counterculture writer,” knew his work was about much more than LSD-fueled imagery and countercultural themes. As professor Catherine E. Hoyser, who once wrote a guide to Robbins’s work for her students, told NPR, “People who believed that he was a drug-taking bon-vivant that wasn’t particularly serious in his work actually don’t pay attention to the profound nature underneath that humor.” Those who read more closely will see that Robbins “was an advocate for feminism, social justice and the environment.”
Goodbye, Goodreads
Book lovers have a lot of reasons to be disillusioned with Goodreads. If you’re looking for an alternative, here are five new reading tracker apps to try.
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