A unified front of authors, publishers, and newspapers is taking on tech giants OpenAI and Microsoft in a landmark New York lawsuit over allegations that their AI-powered tools used copyrighted works without consent or compensation. The cases bring together prominent writers and news outlets in a bid to protect creators’ rights in the age of artificial intelligence.
US Authors’ Copyright Lawsuits Against OpenAI and Microsoft Combined in New York with Newspaper Actions
A recent transfer order made by the US judicial panel on multidistrict litigation has consolidated 12 US copyright cases against OpenAI and Microsoft in New York, despite most of the authors and news outlets suing the companies being opposed to centralization. The cases bring together prominent authors such as ‘Ta-Nehisi Coates’ , ‘Michael Chabon’ , ‘Junot Díaz’ , and ‘Sarah Silverman‘ with news outlets like the ‘New York Times‘ and other authors including ‘John Grisham’ , ‘George Saunders‘ , ‘Jonathan Franzen’ , and ‘Jodi Picoult’.
These cases share factual questions arising from allegations that OpenAI and Microsoft used copyrighted works without consent or compensation to train their large language models (LLMs), which underlie defendants’ generative artificial intelligence products. The LLMs are the basis for AI-powered tools such as ‘OpenAI’s ChatGPT‘ and ‘Microsoft’s Copilot‘.
The judicial panel ultimately transferred the cases from northern California to the southern district of New York, stating that centralization would serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation. The order states that consolidation will conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel, and the judiciary.
Tech companies have argued that their use of copyrighted works to train AI is permitted under the doctrine of ‘fair use,’ allowing unauthorized use of copyrighted works under certain circumstances. OpenAI has welcomed the development, stating that its models are trained on publicly available data grounded in fair use and supportive of innovation.
Fair use is a doctrine in copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the owner.
It is intended to balance the rights of creators with the needs of users.
To qualify as fair use, the use must be transformative, meaning it adds value or insight beyond mere copying.
Other factors considered include purpose and character of the use, amount and substantiality of the portion used, and effect on market for the original work.
However, many prominent authors suing OpenAI have also sued Meta for copyright infringement in its training of AI models. A January court filing by ‘Coates,’ ‘Silverman,’ and ‘Díaz’ among others alleged that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved the company’s use of a notorious ‘shadow library,’ LibGen, which contains more than 7.5 million books.
The authors’ opposition to centralization was based on their concerns that their cases were too different to be combined. Nevertheless, the transfer order has set in motion a process that will allow a single judge to coordinate discovery, streamline pretrial proceedings, and eliminate inconsistent rulings.
A lawsuit in New York is a civil action filed by one party against another for alleged wrongdoing.
The state's court system handles various types of lawsuits, including personal injury claims, contract disputes, and property damage cases.
According to the New York State Unified Court System, there were over 300,000 civil cases filed in 2020 alone.
To initiate a lawsuit, plaintiffs must file a complaint with the court, which includes details about the defendant's alleged actions and the requested relief.
The court will then schedule a hearing or trial to resolve the matter.
