GME3: Alberta iGaming: Deal or Delay?, Midjourney Madness & X-tended Suspension in Brazil

In this week’s GME3, we have an update on the status of Alberta’s regulated iGaming market, an artist challenging a ruling from the U.S. Copyright Office over his attempt to copyright an AI-generated image, and the latest moves related to the ban of X in Brazil. Read on for more!

Gambling

Alberta iGaming: Deal or Delay?

The office of Dale Nally, Alberta’s Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, has confirmed that the province’s regulated iGaming market will launch later than originally anticipated, although no launch date has been announced. Nally’s Press Secretary, Brandon Aboultaif, confirmed that the government requires more time to consider stakeholder contributions before any specific launch date can be announced.

“As the gaming industry continues to evolve globally and in Alberta, we want to ensure a conducive business environment, while protecting the health and safety of Albertans, particularly our youth. We want to get our iGaming strategy right by ensuring fairness and transparency to everyone. Industry stakeholders have told us that we need to continue our conversations so they can provide more input on the model. We are doing just that. Further engagements will also help to identify opportunities to align the strategy with our red tape reduction priorities. While we aim to put the strategy forward in 2025, we will continue to provide updates as this work unfolds.”

Before this announcement, experts anticipated an early 2025 launch, with a small chance that it could be brought forward to late 2024.

Minister Nally took to the stage at G2E yesterday as part of a panel titled “Canada’s Gaming Market – Understanding the Changing iGaming Landscape” to share an update on the Alberta market. While he couldn’t share many specific details, Minister Nally did confirm that the provincial government intends to establish the market in early 2025, but wants to ensure that the regulatory framework is robust enough to allow the industry to “hit the ground running.” 

Canadian Gaming Association President Paul Burns commented on the situation, noting that he believes “the government is evaluating its timelines and making sure they can meet all of the objectives they’re setting out for themselves, and they’re giving themselves a few more months to be able to do the work.” Burns reiterates that the delay has not put the plans to launch in jeopardy.

Media

Midjourney Madness

The artist Jason M. Allen is seeking to reverse a ruling by the U.S. Copyright Office that rejected his request for copyright protection on an award-winning image he generated using the AI image generator Midjourney.

The work in question, titled “Theatre D’opera Spatial,” won the Colorado State Fair’s art competition in 2022, before it was discovered that the image was AI-generated. At the time, Allen told the New York Times “This isn’t going to stop.” He continued to state that “Art is dead, dude. It’s over. AI won. Humans lost.” Allen went on to attempt to copyright “his” work that same year, but was rejected because the image “contained more than a minimal amount of AI-created material.”

Allen claims that his image was generated using hundreds of different prompts and altered with Adobe Photoshop to produce the final result.  The suit continues to claim that he “had a specific artistic idea, conceived of in his mind, and he used Midjourney as a tool to create an artistic expression of that idea.” The argument is that he went through a creative process on par with that experienced by more traditional artists and that it is capable of copyright protection.

Allen continued to argue that, until his work received copyright protection, he would have “no recourse against others who are blatantly and repeatedly stealing [his] work.”

Of course, if you read the GME Law blog, you already know from Daniel’s article that AI-generated works are not eligible for copyright protection (at least in Canada and the U.S.). With that in mind, it’s hard to imagine what Allen is trying to accomplish with his case.

Entertainment

X-tended Suspension in Brazil

Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is embroiled in a legal dispute with Brazil’s Supreme Court, leading to the platform’s suspension in the country since late August. The suspension stems from X’s failure to comply with multiple court orders aimed at curbing misinformation and appointing a local legal representative, as required by Brazilian law. The company was fined approximately $5.2 million for these violations, but when X attempted to settle the fines, it mistakenly deposited the funds into the wrong bank account. This misstep delayed their efforts to reinstate the platform.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, initially criticized the court’s decisions, calling the Brazilian Supreme Court’s actions censorship and referring to Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who spearheaded the investigation, as a “dictator.” However, X has since shifted its stance, with the company’s legal team expressing a willingness to comply with the court’s demands. The fines imposed include penalties for failing to curb misinformation, which Brazil has been vigilant about due to concerns over hate speech and “digital militias” spreading harmful messages online.

X’s legal team has also indicated the company’s intent to challenge the additional 10 million reais fine, but they are committed to addressing the initial penalties to resume operations in Brazil. If the court accepts the forthcoming documents and X completes the required payments, the platform could be back online in the country soon.