The Data Goldmine

Hi this is ZipLaw, the newsletter that feels like a bank holiday, every single day.

Coming up:

🤖 AI and the data goldmine
📈 Copper to the moon?
🧑‍🍳 EU's food price drama
🏙️ BCLP leads on insurance case

AI and the Data Goldmine

There's been lots of drama involving AI companies over the past year and most of the time, the claims have a similar back-story:

1. AI company develops shiny new AI model.
2. AI company allegedly trains AI model on data sets from news websites, or stock image websites.
3. Owners of news and image sites find out and get angry as they want to get paid for this use.
4. Owners sue the AI company for breach of copyright to stop them from using the data and to compensate them for what they have already used.

Most recently, Reddit announced that they would need to be informed and compensated for any use of their data to train AI models. A week later they signed a lucrative deal with OpenAI to let them train ChatGPT on user data. Seems like the tactic worked!

Reddit already had a deal with Google worth about $60 million a year but they are not the only ones making moves.

• OpenAI has been actively negotiating and securing licensing deals with several major publishers for the right-to-use content to train its AI models. Deals have been reported with publishers like the New York Times and the Financial Times.

Now from a legal perspective, this is hot stuff and in this week's Deep Dive I looked at:

• Why AI companies are getting sued
• What is the solution to these claims
• How this impacts law firms

What happened this week?

• 🚀 Nvidia's Big Win: Nvidia's revenue rocketed to $26bn this quarter, a 262% jump, thanks to AI chip demand. Net profit skyrocketed 628% to $14.9bn. Expect more with their new $30,000 Blackwell chips coming soon.
• 🌍 Food Drama: Eight EU countries want the European Commission to crack down on big companies that charge different prices for the same products across Europe, which is costing consumers a whopping €14 billion a year.
• ⚖️ Live Nation Antitrust Lawsuit: The US Justice Department prepares to sue Live Nation, aiming to undo its 2010 merger with Ticketmaster, alleging a ticket monopoly for large events.
• 🇬🇧 UK Inflation Drops: UK's inflation fell to 2.3% in April from 3.2% in March, hitting a three-year low but still missing forecasts. This cools hopes for a June rate cut by the Bank of England.
• 🛡️ Yellen Defends Tariffs: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen backed Biden’s new 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, including electric cars, calling them strategic. She urged the EU to curb cheap Chinese exports in green tech, despite EU's softer stance.

Copper to the Moon?

Buckle up, because the world of copper prices is about to pull a Tony Hawk-style 900-degree spin.

The driving force? The world's insatiable appetite for electric cars, solar panels, wind farms, and even military gear—all of which guzzle copper like it’s going out of style.

• But there's a problem: copper supply isn’t keeping pace. It’s like everyone wants copper, but no one’s invited the mines to the party yet.

Mining companies are scrambling to buy existing copper mines rather than starting new ones, sparking a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions. And if copper hits that $40,000 mark, brace yourself for pricier gadgets and green tech.

Plus, some countries are set to strike it rich from this copper craze—Argentina, we’re looking at you!

In Law Firm news...

With BLCP's TC deadline fast approaching on 31 May, we've got a juicy case for you to discuss in your applications (and hopefully) in an interview!

• In short: Castlelaw Estates is suing Travelers Insurance for breach of contract after the insurer refused to pay out on a multimillion-pound policy following fires that destroyed Castlelaw’s Scottish warehouse, citing alleged non-compliance with security requirements and other policy terms.

Read the whole report now on the key points to discuss and discover who BCLP advised.

In other Law Firm news:

• Osborne Clarke, Gowling lead on Tesla's challenge of the fairness of the 5G vehicle technology licensing terms set by InterDigital and Avanci. Tesla argues that these terms are not FRAND (fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory). Read it now.
• Addleshaw, Freshdfields and Paul Hastings lead on Coventry Building Society deal to buy the Co-operative Bank for £780 million. This is a strategic merger aimed at strengthening their position against larger high street banks. Read it now.
• This week in hires: Latham & Watkins nab 3 partners from Cahill Gordon, while Cleary Gottlieb has boosted its private equity team by hiring Alexander van der Gaag from Kirkland. Read up on all the other key hires of the week and what they mean.

⭐ Want more deals and cases featuring your favourite law firms? Check out our ZipTracker database with over 300+ cases, deals and how to discuss them in applications and interviews.

📊 Chart Watch

Shipping Costs go crazy

Shipping a 40ft container from the Far East to northern Europe now costs $4,343. That’s three times what it was last year!

Normally, this is the off-season for shipping, but things are different now. Thanks to recent trouble in the Red Sea, ships are having to take the scenic route around Africa, making everything more expensive and slower.

Retailers are booking shipments months ahead, trying to dodge potential delays later in the year. Some are even stocking up on summer goods and Christmas items now

• So, why the rush? Businesses remember the chaos of the pandemic all too well. They learned that it's better to have stuff sitting in a warehouse than to risk having empty shelves later.

ZipLaw Learn

You may have seen we have started writing up some quick articles explaining important legal concepts in a way that actually makes sense.

You can check our first articles on how IP licences work and who owns the IP in AI. Let us know if there are any concepts you would like us to explain 😄

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