The continuing AI legal battle, the movie adaptation of Carla de Guzman’s Sweet on You, the Palanca Awards, Samantha Sotto Yambao’s new books, and activities at the Philippine International Comics Festival in this week’s edition.
Big Tech wins first round of cases on AI
Unhappy news on the AI front as two separate cases brought to court by two different sets of authors have ruled agasint those authors and sided with AI companies.
Publishers Weekly has reports on both cases — the one against Anthropic and Meta — and I won’t pretend to be a legal expert and say I understand them completely. From the article, the judge in the Anthropic ase thinks that what AI does is transformatie enough to consitute fari use, but believes that Anthropic using pirated books to train their model is a violation of copyright law. The judge that made the Meta ruling, on the other hand, says that he doesn’t think what Meta is doing is lawful, but points out that the lawyers for the authors did not make a convincing argument on how the authors were harmed by Meta’s AI.
To his credit, Judge Vince Chhabria, the one who presided the case against Meta, provided the authors’ lawyers with the legal arguments they could pursue to battle Meta’s case. The three arguments are
First, models could regurgitate copyrighted works, allowing free access to the originals. Second, unauthorized copying could harm licensing markets for AI training. Third, models could generate works similar enough in subject matter or genre to compete with the originals.
Check out the Publishers Weekly stories as they look into in a more in-depth manner!
‘Sweet on You’ gets a CW adaptation
Here’s some better newetter news, especially for fans of Carla de Guzman. Variety reports that her 2020 book, Sweet on You has been adapted into the television movie Recipe for Romance for the CW. It’s going to air…sometime in August? Anyway, here’s the relevant information from Variety.
RECIPE FOR ROMANCE
Would-be enemies turn to heartwarming lovers in this story of two warring businesses in Little Manila. Sari (True O’Brien, “Days of Our Lives”) is given the long overdue opportunity to prove herself when her parents head for vacation, placing the family’s coffee shop in her hands. Sari’s big plans are derailed when a bakery run by the annoyingly handsome and charming Gabe (Alex Mallari Jr., “The Adam Project”) opens right next door. This launches a prank war to end all prank wars, bringing Sari and Gabe together in a story of love, family, community, and irresistibly delicious pastries. In the week leading up to the big Little Manila Festival, the two competitors will clash, kiss, and make-up as they navigate their desire for each other and for success.
From Centinel Media, in association with Harlequin Studios and Bell Media, RECIPE FOR ROMANCE is produced by Circle Blue Entertainment and based on the Harlequin novel “Sweet on You” by Carla de Guzman. Arnie Zipursky, Dayna Zipursky, Floyd Kane, Amos Adetuyi, Brent Lewis, Dianne Moggy, Craig Cegielski, Susan Oman Gross serve as executive producers. For Fremantle, Bob McCourt serves as Executive in Charge of Production and Michela DiMondo executive produces. The film is directed by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall with a teleplay by Nathalie Younglai and Shelley Scarrow. The film is distributed internationally by FOX Entertainment Global.
Last call for Palanca entries
The Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature started accepting entries last month, and now they’re making a last call for those who want a shot at winning one of the country’s coveted literary prizes. Deadliest deadline is tomorrow, June 30.
Samantha Sotto Yambao’s next two books
Samantha Sotto Yambao’s still on a high from the success of Water Moon, but already she’s got two new books for her fans. The first one is The Elsewhere Express, which is already available to pre-order and will be available on bookstore shelves in January next year.
Her other book, on the other hand, has a more nebulous release date as she’s just only sold it. The Night Movers Disappearing Service is going to be published by Del Rey and is part of a two-book deal. Congrats!
Philippine International Comics Festival activities
If you’re headed to the Philippine International Comics Festival next weekend, there are a number of events and activities that you may want to be a part of! I don’t think I’ll be able to make it, but the activities below really piqued my interest.
On Friday, July 4, Ian Velasquez, Gino Dela Cruz, and Macoy Coching/Randy Valiente will take part in the commemoration of the Golden Age of Filipino Komiks at 10:30 AM at Meeting Room B, 5/F Megatrade Hall, SM Megamall Building B.
There will also be screenings of the documentary Komiks with a K on Friday, July 4, and Sunday, July 6. The description sounds interesting!
The documentary film “Komiks with a K” delves into past traditions as well as the current state of Filipino sequential art. Produced and directed by Jay Ignacio, the film covers the 1970s “Filipino Invasion” of American Comics, the subsequent rise of Whilce Portacio in the US, his influence in the Philippines, and the eventual renaissance of Filipino independent komiks of the present.
Even better, all proceeds from the screening will go to Medical Aid for Palestine.
On Sunday, July 6, webtoon creator Gwang Jin will conduct a free Comics Masterclass.
Organized in partnership with the Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines, the masterclass is titled “Ink & Industry: Korean Webtoons and the Industry Landscape” and will discuss “the current status of the Korean webtoon industry: one-source, multi-use and dramatization process, as well as expansion to overseas publication.”
Ron Does Stuff 
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