In today’s Digest, we discuss a US federal court backing Anthropic on an AI training copyright lawsuit, Japan’s FTC penalising Dentsu and others over Olympic bids, as well as  IPA’s TouchPoints data revealing mobile topping TV in UK consumers’ screen habits.

US Court Backs Anthropic on AI Training Copyright

A US federal judge has ruled in favour of Anthropic in a copyright lawsuit, stating that the AI company’s use of books to train its large language model without permission qualifies as legal.

US District Judge William Alsup, said that Anthropic’s training of its Claude AI model using the works of authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson constituted “fair use”, marking a significant win for tech firms relying on publicly available data to develop generative AI systems.The case, filed last year as a proposed class action, is one of several brought by authors and rights holders against AI developers such as OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft, alleging unauthorised use of copyrighted material in model training.

However, the judge drew a line at data storage, ruling that Anthropic’s retention of over 7 million pirated books in a “central library” was not protected by fair use and infringed the authors’ copyrights. The court has ordered a trial in December to assess damages, which could reach up to USD$150,000 (£118,000) per work under US copyright law.

An Anthropic spokesperson welcomed the decision, highlighting the court’s recognition of the company’s AI training methods as “transformative” and in line with copyright law’s intent to “foster creativity and scientific progress.”

Japan FTC Penalises Dentsu and Others Over Olympic Bids

Dentsu Group Inc. and six other ad or event related firms have attracted a combined fine of ¥3.3 billion (£18m) from the Japan’s Fair Trade Commission for bid-rigging contracts related to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The companies include Dentsu Inc. unit, Hakuhodo Inc., Tokyu Agency Inc., Fuji Creative Corp., Same Two Inc., and Cerespo Co.. According to the commission, the companies began rigging bids in April 2018 to secure contracts for major sporting event planning, including operational roles during the Games. 

The FTC also found ADK Marketing Solutions in violation of antimonopoly laws, but opted not to impose fines after the agency voluntarily disclosed its involvement prior to the official launch of the investigation.

Mobile Tops TV in UK Screen Habits

Mobile usage has officially overtaken traditional TV viewing among UK adults for the first time, according to new IPA 2025 TouchPoints data. The findings mark the first time in the 20-year history of the IPA TouchPoints dataset that mobile has overtaken the TV set as the UK’s dominant media platform.

Key findings include that British adults now spend an average of 3 hours and 21 minutes daily on their mobile phones, while time spent watching TV on a traditional set has dropped slightly to 3 hours and 16 minutes per day. The younger generation aged 15–24 now spend nearly five hours a day (4 hours 49 minutes) on their mobile phones, compared to under two hours (1 hour 49 minutes) watching TV. In contrast, adults aged 65–74 still devote more time to traditional viewing, spending 4 hours 40 minutes on the TV set and just 1 hour 47 minutes on mobile, highlighting a stark generational divide in media habits.

According to the Deputy Research Director of IPA, Dan Flynn, the findings are “a clear signal of how embedded mobile phones have become in our daily lives – always on, always within reach and increasingly central to how we consume content, connect and unwind.”