Who Owns the Stripes? Adidas and Steve Madden Face Off in Court

Steve Madden and Adidas are facing off in a Brooklyn federal court over a design dispute that cuts to the core of fashion branding. Adidas argues that Madden’s new “Viento” and “Janos” sneakers infringe on its iconic three-stripe trademark, while Madden counters that stripes are a universal design element no one company should monopolize. The case highlights the tension between protecting brand identity and allowing creative freedom in the competitive sneaker industry. CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

Can AI Be Trained Ethically? New Dataset Shows It’s Possible

A team of researchers has shown that it’s possible to build large AI datasets entirely from ethical sources, namely 130,000 English-language books from the Library of Congress—almost twice the size of Project Gutenberg’s collection. Their project adds to recent open-source efforts like Hugging Face’s FineWeb, which aim to make AI training more transparent and responsible. While experts say this careful approach may not be big enough to power today’s largest AI models, they hope it will encourage companies to be more open about what data they use. CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

Video Game Strike Ends Addressing AI Voice-over Concerns

After nearly a year on the picket line, voice and performance-capture actors in the video game industry have reached a landmark deal with publishers — a moment that firmly places gaming companies in the same labor league as Hollywood’s biggest studios.

For decades, video game giants were treated as tech companies, striking union agreements tailored to their unique medium. Under the new Interactive Media Agreement, they’ve joined TV and film studios in accepting union terms on key issues like AI use, informed consent, and fair compensation.

The contract delivers wage increases and AI protections. Negotiating committee chair Sarah Elmaleh highlighted one especially critical element: language preventing “Generative AI scabs” from replacing an actor’s labor with a simulated version of themselves during a strike.

“It may sound wonky,” Elmaleh said, “but every worker deserves to know that if they withhold their labor, they can’t be replaced by a version of themselves.” Click Here for More Information

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