So is everyone more enlightened this time around? “I think it may well be the case that we get to the point that people realize there is real technology we want to value and don’t want to kill, and they will look for ways to accommodate it,” said Mark Lemley, a professor of law at Stanford University and an IP attorney whose clients include Stability AI.

But, he acknowledges, the wrong case, or an unfavorable early judgement, “can bring all development in the industry to a screeching halt.”