Angela Dunning’s Chambers-recognized practice focuses on generative AI, copyright, trademark, technology, contract disputes, and other complex commercial litigation for the world’s top companies.

She has tried numerous cases to a jury verdict and has substantial experience in the federal appellate courts, including successful arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in high-profile, published IP cases.

In 2008, Angela served as an assistant district attorney in San Francisco under then-District Attorney Kamala Harris. She teaches trademark law at UC Berkeley School of Law and is a thought leader and frequent speaker on AI and IP issues.

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Notable Experience

  • Meta Platforms, in numerous lawsuits alleging copyright infringement and related claims arising out of the training and output of Meta’s large language generative AI models, securing summary judgment in Kadrey that Meta’s training of its model constitutes fair use.

  • Google, in Elliott v. Google, securing summary judgment and Ninth Circuit affirmance following argument that the GOOGLE trademark is not generic, and in Autodesk v. Google, defending Google against claims of trademark infringement directed to Google’s generative AI image and video platform, GOOGLE FLOW.

  • Midjourney, a prominent generative AI image platform, in connection with a first-of-its kind putative class action asserting copyright, trade secret, DMCA and right of publicity claims.

  • Blurb in the “Monkey Selfies” copyright suit, Naruto v. Slater, procuring dismissal and Ninth Circuit affirmance following argument on the ground that animals, as non-humans, lack statutory standing under the Copyright Act.

  • eBay in Close v. Sotheby’s, obtaining dismissal on copyright preemption grounds and Ninth Circuit affirmance following argument of claims asserted under the California Resale Royalty Act.

  • Meta Platforms, procuring dismissal with prejudice in two different trademark and unfair competition cases—one of which, Dfinity Foundation v. Meta Platforms, was recognized by Law360 as a top trademark decision of 2022.

  • 23andMe in a trademark dispute with Ancestry.com over rights to the term “ancestry.”

  • AliExpress, Broadcom, Google/YouTube, Etsy, Cantor Fitzgerald, Anheuser Busch, Sazerac, Zipline, Olive AI, Wish (ContextLogic), and Playboy Enterprises in various other trademark and copyright litigation matters.

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Publications

Courts Grapple with Privilege Implications of AI

The Open Questions in U.S. Generative AI Copyright Litigation

UK High Court Issues Landmark Ruling in Getty Images v. Stability AI, with Narrow Trademark Infringement Win for Getty; Claim of Secondary Copyright Infringement Fails

California Enacts Landmark AI Safety Law But With Very Narrow Applicability 

White House Releases Action Plan Outlining America’s Path to Global AI Leadership 

Generative AI: Practical Considerations for Companies and Boards 

Georgia Court Dismisses Defamation Lawsuit Against OpenAI Over ChatGPT Output

Thaler v. Perlmutter Further Confirms Human Authorship Required for Copyright Protection

Effective Board Oversight as AI Evolves 

The EU, UK and US sign international treaty addressing risks of AI 

The Subject of AI: New USPTO Guidance on the Subject Matter Eligibility of AI Inventions 

After Chevron: What the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Decision Changed, And What It Didn’t

Anthropic Wins Transfer to California in AI Copyright Lawsuit

Supreme Court Upholds Refusal to Register “Trump Too Small” Trademark

Designing a New Standard for the Obviousness of Design Patents

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case Seeking Determination as to Whether the “Discovery Rule” Applies to Copyright Act Claims

Supreme Court Allows Copyright Damages Dating Back More Than Three Years (If The Discovery Rule Applies)

On Authorship, Animals, Humans, and AI

Fourth Circuit Vacates $1 Billion Damages Award in Music Piracy Lawsuit

European Supervisory Authorities Publish Report on BigTech firms in EU Financial Services

Training AI models on Synthetic Data: No silver bullet for IP infringement risk in the context of training AI systems (Part 4 of 4)

Citing Jack Daniel’s, the Ninth Circuit Reverses Itself and Clarifies the Test for Expressive Trademarks

Training AI models on Synthetic Data: No silver bullet for IP infringement risk in the context of training AI systems (Part 3 of 4)

Training AI models on Synthetic Data: No silver bullet for IP infringement risk in the context of training AI systems (Part 2 of 4)

HSU Untied Podcast

Training AI models on Synthetic Data: No silver bullet for IP infringement risk in the context of training AI systems (Part 1 of 4)

Significant Roadblocks for Plaintiffs in Generative Artificial Intelligence Lawsuit: California Judge Dismisses Most Claims Against AI Developers in Andersen v. Stability AI

White House Unveils Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence

Events