Intellectual Property & Technology Law
Walmart says it wont personalize prices despite personalized pricing patents
Look Up Say More Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable @Home Trending Now Mashable Selects Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook In My Bag AI at School Safety Net All Series Walmart says it won't personalize prices despite personalized pricing patents A new report alleges that Walmart is developing technology to personalize prices. Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Instagram .
Your Next Great Read Might Be Certified 'Organic'
Your Next Great Read Might Be Certified'Organic' Amid a sea of AI writing slop, a new stamp for "organic literature" will help readers to pick out books authored by real, corn-fed, free-range humans. As scandals involving the use of artificial intelligence by professional authors pile up, a British startup has established a way for publishers to certify their books as "organic"--written by real people, no machines in sight. On Wednesday, Books by People confirmed it had received approval from the UK's Intellectual Property Office to begin distributing a mark that indicates a published book has been authored by a human. The stamp, which looks like a thumbprint, will be displayed on the cover. "If people are going to be writing AI books or seeking it out for their own enjoyment, that's their prerogative," Esme Dennys, cofounder of Books by People, tells WIRED.
Who owns 'brain rot'?: inside the international legal drama over a beloved meme
Viral internet character Tung Tung Tung Sahur was created in 2025 by an Indonesian teen who goes by the username Noxa, using OpenAI's image-generation tool. Viral internet character Tung Tung Tung Sahur was created in 2025 by an Indonesian teen who goes by the username Noxa, using OpenAI's image-generation tool. Who owns'brain rot'?: inside the international legal drama over a beloved meme O ne of the most beloved characters in an absurdist genre of online video content has become the center of an international legal battle that could determine where human creativity ends and artificial intelligence begins. Tung Tung Tung Sahur, also known as Triple T, was created in 2025 by an Indonesian teen who goes by the username Noxa, using OpenAI's image-generation tool. Based on a kentongan - a type of drum used to wake south-east Asian Muslims for their pre-dawn meal during Ramadan - the character is an anthropomorphized version of the instrument with a broad smile and a vacant stare.
IJCAI-ECAI 2026 tutorial / workshop round-up part 1
In this summary article, organisers of a tutorial and a workshop at IJCAI-ECAI 2026 pick their key takeaways from their respective sessions. This tutorial was a practical, hands-on tutorial on the theory and methods for handling missing data in tabular and imaging settings, from statistical baselines to autoencoders and generative adversarial networks. The missingness mechanism is more important than the choice of imputation method. MCAR, MAR, and MNAR settings call for different treatment, and MNAR, the most challenging mechanism, is the one that most methods do not handle well. Deep generative imputation is not always better.
Disney hires ex-CEO of AI company it accused of copyright infringement
The company is also apparently willing to let bygones be bygones -- Disney has announced that it's hiring Karandeep Anand, the former CEO of Character.AI, as its first chief technology officer. "Karandeep brings a rare mix of experience across infrastructure, consumer technology and AI, and will be a vital addition to Disney's senior leadership team as we further our three priorities: great storytelling as our North Star, technology in service of creativity, and operating as One Disney," Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro said in a statement. "He also has real enthusiasm and respect for Disney, a clear sense of where technology and creativity meet and shares our belief that technology creates the most value when it helps people do their best work." Since becoming CEO in February, D'Amaro has leaned hard into Disney's capabilities as a technology company, pitching the Disney streaming service and app as central to its future. Hiring Anand, and making him a direct report, is a further attempt to sell that idea.
'Brutal': thousands of T-shirt designs stolen and listed on Temu, Sydney label claims
A comparison of a T-shirt as sold by Lonely Kids Club and Temu. The business owner says AI may have been used to scrape the content of his site and replicate the designs. A comparison of a T-shirt as sold by Lonely Kids Club and Temu. The business owner says AI may have been used to scrape the content of his site and replicate the designs. 'Brutal': thousands of T-shirt designs stolen and listed on Temu, Sydney label claims After 15 years running a small business making T-shirts, Warwick Levy says it was "brutal" when he first discovered an identical design for sale on Temu.
Labor accused of throwing creatives 'under the bus' with proposal to ease copyright protections for AI giants
The Albanese government is considering giving AI companies access to Australian creatives' works by default as it pursues a compromise with US tech giants. "It would mean putting AI companies' interests over everyday Australians, giving AI companies access to all Australians' content, unless they opt out," Pocock said on Tuesday. "The burden should not fall on Australians to defend the rights they already hold over content they create and own and invest in." The proposals were contained in a document Pocock described as screenshots of government's consultation proposals, tabled in the Senate on Tuesday and titled "AI on Australian Terms". The document raises as a key issue the vast number of small individual creators of online content, for which voluntary deals with AI companies "is not realistic/possible".
Apple reveals 'shocking evidence' in OpenAI trade secrets lawsuit
Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series Apple reveals'shocking evidence' in OpenAI trade secrets lawsuit Apple previously claimed this was just the tip of the iceberg. Apple claims it has evidence that a former employee stole trade secrets to benefit his new employer, OpenAI. Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI and two of its former employees over alleged stolen trade secrets is heating up. In a new filing, Apple says it has found shocking evidence and is asking the court for expedited discovery. Apple claims the limited information it found after a former employee's work laptop was returned to the company shows that its trade secrets are being used and evidence is being destroyed."
Apple claims OpenAI is using confidential Apple material and destroying evidence
Apple has claimed in a new court filing that OpenAI is destroying evidence and that a former iPhone engineer used confidential Apple material in his work at the company. Apple has escalated its legal battle against OpenAI, claiming in a new court filing that OpenAI is actively destroying crucial evidence and that former iPhone engineer Chang Liu "not only downloaded a confidential Apple circuit schematic but also used it in his work" at the artificial intelligence company. The court brief was filed Monday in support of Apple's motion for expedited pretrial fact-finding in the lawsuit, which accuses the ChatGPT-maker of stealing trade secrets. OpenAI has pushed to have the case dismissed. Liu, who left Apple for OpenAI in January, is central to the case.
FTC and 22 states sue Amazon for allegedly inflating ad prices for 1.2 million advertisers
Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series FTC and 22 states sue Amazon for allegedly inflating ad prices for 1.2 million advertisers Amazon denies misleading advertisers and says its system helped businesses save billions of dollars. Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan. She also runs Fan Mail, a weekly pop-culture newsletter.