400 Newspapers Sue OpenAI and Microsoft for Copyright Infringement
Nearly 400 newspapers sued OpenAI and Microsoft over unauthorized AI training data use.
Why it matters: This lawsuit marks a major escalation in the legal battles over AI training data and copyright law. The case could set critical precedents impacting intellectual property rights and future AI development in legal tech and journalism industries.
- Lawsuit filed June 24, 2026, by almost 400 local and regional newspapers.
- Accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of secretly scraping copyrighted articles, including paywalled content, to train AI models like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
- Publishers claim copyright management info was stripped from content to hide ownership.
- Lawsuit seeks statutory damages, actual damages, profits, and attorney’s fees.
- The New York Times filed a similar lawsuit in December 2023.
- NYT CEO emphasized the need for a sustainable business model for independent journalism.
On June 24, 2026, a coalition of nearly 400 local and regional newspapers filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft alleging mass copyright infringement. The suit claims that these tech giants illegally scraped and copied copyrighted news articles—including content behind paywalls—to train popular AI models such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
The publishers assert that OpenAI and Microsoft secretly crawled hundreds of news websites without authorization, stripping copyright management information from the articles. This action allegedly severed the connection between the content and its lawful owners, violating intellectual property laws. The coalition is seeking statutory damages, actual damages, restitution of profits, and attorney fees as remedies.
This legal action builds on a precedent set in December 2023 when The New York Times filed a similar lawsuit accusing the defendants of using its articles without permission for AI training. Meredith Kopit Levien, CEO of The New York Times, stressed the broader impact saying, "If there isn't a sustainable business model for high-quality independent journalism and other creative work, there won't be anything to move through the LLMs."
The case is significant because it escalates litigation efforts concerning how copyrighted content is used to train AI. Its outcome could reshape copyright law applications and set boundaries for AI data sourcing, affecting the legal tech industry and content creators worldwide.
By the numbers:
- 400 newspapers — involved in the June 2026 lawsuit
- December 2023 — The New York Times filed a similar lawsuit
- Hundreds of news websites — allegedly scraped by OpenAI and Microsoft