When the Client Trained a Model on Someone Else’s Data, Copyright Exposure and Compliance

Warrington Parker, Managing Partner | Crowell & Moring LLP

Warrington Parker is the managing partner of Crowell & Moring’s San Francisco office, an experienced first-chair trial lawyer, and a former federal prosecutor. He has tried more than 20 cases to verdict across a wide range of civil and criminal matters, including copyright, trade secret, securities fraud, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, product liability, and breach of contract disputes. He is a member of the firm’s Litigation, White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement, and Investigations groups.

• Education & Credentials

Warrington earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Cecil F. Poole of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1989 to 1990. He is admitted to practice in California.

• Recognition & Leadership

The Daily Journal named Warrington a Top Artificial Intelligence Lawyer in California in 2024, recognizing his significant contributions to artificial intelligence law. As managing partner, he leads Crowell & Moring’s San Francisco office and is recognized for his strategic approach to complex litigation.

• Professional Involvement

The Bar Association of San Francisco appointed Warrington to the Board of Directors of its Justice & Diversity Center, effective January 1, 2026. He has also served as co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Criminal Litigation Committee.

• Experience

Warrington previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. In private practice, he represents clients in False Claims Act matters, commercial and technology litigation, and disputes involving claimed violations of state and federal statutes and regulations. He has conducted criminal and civil internal investigations for companies and boards of directors in the United States and abroad, including FCPA and financial irregularity investigations in China, Japan, and India. His clients have included eBay, Instacart, and StubHub.

SESSION 1 – Defending Copyright and Scraping Claims Over AI Training Data | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

This session examines the defense of copyright infringement and data-scraping claims arising from AI model training, focusing on the three landmark 2025 federal district court rulings that now define the fair use landscape for LLM training data. Attorneys will learn how to evaluate client exposure based on data provenance, market substitution evidence, and output containment, and how to deploy preemption, early motion practice, and settlement benchmarks in active litigation. Participants will leave with a structured defense framework applicable to both copyright and state-law scraping claims.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Training Data Diligence, Licensing, and California’s New Disclosure Law | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

This session covers the compliance and transactional obligations attorneys must understand when a client trains or deploys a generative AI model using third-party data. Attendees will examine California’s AB 2013 Training Data Transparency Act — its 12 mandatory disclosure categories, retroactive scope, and early compliance patterns — alongside the EU AI Act’s parallel GPAI training data obligations. The session also addresses practical training data due diligence frameworks, the structure of content licensing deals, and how the emerging licensing market intersects with fair use defenses in ongoing litigation.