St. Thomas Law Review – Copyright Law

Flowers for Whom? Music Investors, Copyright Standing, and the Answer Song Defense

March 25, 2026By Monica Lopez

In February 2023, Miley Cyrus (“Cyrus”) released “Flowers,” an anthem that spent eight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Shortly after, in September 2024, Tempo Music Investments, LLC, filed a federal copyright infringement lawsuit alleging that “Flowers” copied melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements from Bruno […]

The Clock Strikes Midnight: The Expiration of Disney’s Copyrights and Domains

March 3, 2026By Alexia Betancourt

Mickey Mouse’s iconic ears are nearly inescapable: on license plates, souvenir keychains, and Florida Disney annual pass decals. Given how deeply embedded Disney’s symbols are in American culture, it is difficult to imagine a legal landscape where Disney no longer holds exclusive rights to those symbols. As of January 1, 2026, the original cartoons of […]

Artificial Intelligence Copyright Law Featured Supreme Court

AI As Author? The Government Tells SCOTUS “No”

March 2, 2026By Hayley Grabowski

With just a few words entered into ChatGPT, a painting can materialize, raising the question of whether artificial intelligence (“AI”) is the author or merely a tool. In March of 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia answered that an author must be human.[i] The holding arose in Thaler v. Perlmutter, […]

Five Below or Five Too Close? Drawing the Line Between Competition and Parasitic Copying

February 24, 2026By Gianelle Cabrera

If a shopper has ever walked into two different stores and felt as though they were seeing double, the same product under a different label, that resemblance was likely intentional. Fast-retail brands thrive on the fine line between imitation and competition, but when does lawful competition become unlawful imitation? Putting that question to the […]

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