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Intellectual Property

Sep. 17, 2026

Comedy's copyright awakening: How Pandora litigation signals a potential shift in the comedy business

The Pandora litigation shows how comedians are challenging traditional copyright models as streaming and AI create new opportunities--and new pressure--to separately protect and monetize their underlying material.

Sam Roseme

Partner in the Entertainment & Media Industry Group
Reed Smith

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Megan McWaters

Associate
Reed Smith LLP

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Comedy's copyright awakening: How Pandora litigation signals a potential shift in the comedy business
Shutterstock

Recent lawsuits against Pandora by prominent comedians signal a significant shift in how the comedy industry approaches intellectual property rights, one that mirrors the music industry's lucrative dual-copyright model and is being accelerated by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

The Pandora litigation: A new front in comedy copyright

In the consolidated action titled In re Pandora Media, LLC Copyright Li...

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