🎙️ The Ensemble: Disney Bets on the Future of IP, Chip Wars Bite, and Machado Stages an Entrance in Oslo
A warm festive welcome from London - where H2H is cracking out the mince pies ahead of the holiday season, while keeping one eye on President Trump's upcoming national TV address...
The newsletter is the victim of awkward deadlines today - President Trump has scheduled a national TV address in primetime this evening; rather than speculate wildly across a range of outcomes we’ll just note that we’ve been tracking the drumbeat of threats to take military action against Venezuela for a number of weeks, and the military foce assembled off the coast can’t be on standby forever. But maybe it’s something else entirely. It’s been a week of tough news - the shocking attack on Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Sydney’s Bondi beach, and another mass shooting at Brown University - where the gunman is still at large as we write. I was invited to attend the Hanukkah vigil in London’s Parliament Square by a friend; there was notable and vocal bad feeling in the crowd towards the UK Labour Government, who are seen by many British Jews to have been complacent in the face of rising anti-Semitism in the UK. A similar discussion is taking place in Australia - where for some the country’s gun laws are up for grabs, while others believe the Australian state has failed to take seriously the threat to Jews amid rising violent anti-Semitic language, often linked to protests against Israeli military action in Gaza. It’s not the end to the year anyone would have wished. The next newsletter will be in two weeks’ time, and we’ll also be dropping a seasonal end-of-year podcast in a cosy fireside setting - which is probably what we all need right now. Thanks for supporting H2H this year!
A New Disney Deal Sparks Debate over the Future of IP
In a 3-year agreement that stunned Disney fans, Walt Disney is licensing its iconic characters to Open AI and taking a $1 billion stake in the startup. The deal will allow ChatGPT users to generate content with over 200 iconic characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars, and embed AI in Disney’s creative engine. After sealing the deal, Disney executives sent a cease and desist letter to Google, claiming copyright infringement on a massive scale for Google’s alleged use of Disney characters including Darth Vader, Homer Simpson, and Elsa of Frozen to train its AI models without authorization or payment. By granting Open AI exclusive license to cast its characters, Disney is securing a new revenue stream, empowering OpenAI to enforce violations of the license, and stoking fears of monopoly. Transforming current approaches to AI-generated content, Disney’s new deal is stirring debate among creative industry leaders over the future of intellectual property (IP) in the AI age.
For a deep dive into AI, the WB-Netflix-Paramount brawl, and the future of the creator ecosystem - tune into our podcast from the BRIDGE Summit in Abu Dhabi!
Sources: NPR, Mashable, Bloomberg, Financial Times (story), Superhero Database (image), Shira Lazar via LinkedIn (graphic), Aldo Media (image)
China Outmaneuvers Trump in Global Chip Wars
A few days after Trump gave Nvidia the greenlight to export its second-best generation of AI chips to China, Beijing made a counter chess move in the global chip wars, announcing it will regulate access to the H200 chips as part of its strategy to achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductor production. Shipments of H200 chips were banned under the Biden administration over concerns they may be used to enhance China’s military capacities and threaten US national security. Nvidia’s CEO has been lobbying to lift the ban, arguing that freedom to export the chips would create Chinese reliance on American technology. But critics say the move will give China a big boost, citing incentives already underway in China to drive domestic competition. A Wall Street Journal editorial said Trump’s latest move surrendered American technological supremacy to “an adversary and top economic contender”, “trading national security for pennies on the dollar”.
Sources: Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal (story), Digital Watch Observatory (image)
Following a Perilous Journey, Machado Arrives Fashionably Late to the Nobel After-Party
After spending over a year in hiding following Venezuela’s 2024 election, Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado staged a harrowing escape in a covert land, sea, and air operation aided by US officials, establishing her as a “major player in the escalating brinkmanship between Trump and Maduro”. Machado left Venezuela after crossing a dozen military checkpoints disguised in a wig, braving rough seas in a fishing boat to the Caribbean island of Curaçao, and flying on a private jet from Miami to the Norwegian capital. When she emerged at 2:30 AM on the balcony of Oslo’s historic Grand Hotel, crowds below erupted into cheers and sang the Venezuelan national anthem. Machado later toured Parliament with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, sporting a white Carolina Herrera pantsuit in a chic soft power play signaling Venezuelan cultural credentials (the brand), authority (the silhouette), moral purity and a symbolic nod to women’s power and solidarity in suffragist movements (the color). In a show of solidarity, Panama’s President José Raul Mulino brought the dress Machado had intended to wear to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, but that she now plans to debut for a “next occasion” - hopefully under slightly less dramatic circumstances.
Sources: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Luster (story), VPM, El Pais, Taipei Times (images)
Iranian Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi is Arrested (Again)
Iranian officials detained women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi last Friday at a memorial service for a human rights lawyer found dead in his office last week. Videos posted on Ms. Mohammadi’s social media account show her standing on top of a car in a white jacket with her hair uncovered, leading the crowd in a chant of the names of slain rights activists and “Long Live Iran!” Mohammadi was temporarily released from Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison last year after receiving a 10-year sentence on charges of threatening national security. She was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 in recognition of her fight for women’s freedom. Mohammadi’s latest arrest, days after she had called on the international community to rethink its approach to “change” in Iran, shows how women are fashioned into contested symbols of national identity and power on the global stage. Although Iran is relaxing social restrictions at home in response to internal pressure, it still aims to project power overseas after Israeli- and US-led military operations in Iran last June and external calls for regime change.
Sources: New York Times, BBC (story), Guardian (image)
Melania is Fostering the Future with a Luxury Handbag
Melania Trump’s not-for-profit will benefit from a new line focusing on foster children with The Unity Bag, a limited edition, $2800 black purse designed by mission-driven luxury brand AGCF. Founded by Gucci heiress Alexandra Gucci Zarini as a public benefit corporation, AGCF has pledged to donate 20% of the bag’s proceeds to Fostering the Future, an organization founded by Melania in 2021 to support kids in the child welfare system to access higher education, jobs, and financial independence. Following an executive order signed in November, Melania is designing innovative public-private sector partnerships to “provide more pathways to success for young people who have experienced foster care.” Gucci Zarini says giving back to empower vulnerable children is “the highest form of luxury” and a mission at the heart of her brand. If you’d like to buy the chic purse and support foster kids, queue up here for the 2026 edition - the 2025 line is fully reserved.
Sources: USA Today (story), AGCF (image)
Resolving a Cultural Dispute with “Prada Made in India”
Facing backlash over claims the high-end brand appropriated the design of Indian-made Kolhapuri sandals in its leather footwear without giving due credit, Prada has announced a deal with two state-backed entities to make 2000 pairs of sandals in India’s Maharashtra and Karnataka states. Named after the city in Maharashtra where they’re made, handcrafted leather Kolhapuri sandals date back to the 12th century and are well-suited to India’s hot climate. Maharashtra’s Social Justice Minister said the new initiative, called “Prada Made in India - Inspired by Kolhapuri Chappals”, will include specialized training in Italy for about 200 Kolhapuri chappal artisans. Fusing the original manufacturer’s capacities with Prada’s signature techniques, the new sandals will debut next February at $939 a pair online and in Prada boutiques worldwide.
Sources: BBC (story), Reuters (image)