NYT Copyright Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Microsoft Advances
A federal judge has allowed most of The New York Times' copyright infringement claims against OpenAI and Microsoft to proceed, setting the stage for discovery and a potential jury trial.
Published on April 2, 2025
A U.S. District Court judge recently allowed most of The New York Times' claims to proceed in its copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft. The lawsuit, filed in late 2023, alleges that the tech companies used the newspaper’s articles without permission to train their AI models. Although certain claims were dismissed, the key issues—including the use of older works and indirect copyright infringement—were retained, enabling the case to move to the discovery phase.
According to reports from Axios on April 1, 2025, and the Associated Press on March 27, 2025, the case is set to progress towards a possible jury trial after argument briefs are submitted. While AI companies argue that public data scraping qualifies as fair use, the judge’s decision to permit the majority of the lawsuit reflects a significant setback for those defenses.