Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI, Microsoft for copyright infringement

2026-09-06 | Source: Reuters on MSN | Original article

The Seattle Times and Newsday have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming the companies infringed their copyrights.

The Seattle Times and Newsday filed a federal lawsuit on Friday, accusing OpenAI and Microsoft of copyright infringement. In a complaint lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the two newspapers allege that the tech firms harvested their articles—including material hidden behind paywalls—without permission and used the content to train large‑language‑model systems. The plaintiffs seek monetary damages and an injunction that would require the destruction of any AI models built on their journalism. The case adds to a growing wave of legal actions by media organisations that claim AI developers are exploiting copyrighted news content to improve generative products. As we reported on September 6, the Seattle Times had already joined a broader push by publishers to hold AI companies accountable for unlicensed data use. This filing sharpens the focus on how training data are sourced, a question that has drawn scrutiny from both the courts and regulators. If the court rules in favour of the newspapers, the decision could force OpenAI, Microsoft and other AI firms to overhaul data‑collection practices, potentially limiting the breadth of information that models can draw upon. It may also trigger a cascade of similar suits, prompting the industry to negotiate licensing agreements with news outlets or to develop more transparent data‑curation frameworks. Stakeholders will be watching the docket for motions on the scope of the requested injunction and any early settlement talks. Parallel developments—such as the U.S. government’s recent backing of OpenAI in a separate copyright case—suggest that the legal landscape for AI training data is still being defined. The outcome of this lawsuit will likely shape how publishers protect their content and how AI developers balance innovation with intellectual‑property obligations.

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