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AI pioneer OpenAI and Microsoft have suffered a legal setback after a federal judge ruled that a copyright infringement lawsuit can proceed.
The Associated Press reported that US District Judge Sidney Stein of New York on Wednesday ruled that The New York Times and other newspapers can proceed with a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft seeking to end the practice of using their stories to train artificial intelligence chatbots.
In December 2023 The New York Times became the first major US media organisation to sue OpenAI (and its main investor Microsoft).
Copyright claims
Shortly after that NYT lawsuit, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed his surprise at the lawsuit, saying OpenAI’s artificial intelligence models didn’t need to train on the publisher’s data.
But the New York Times lawsuit wasn’t the last copyright infringement claim to be filed against OpenAI.
In February 2024 three US online news outlets sued OpenAI, alleging the AI pioneer had used thousands of their articles to train its chatbots.
Then in May 2024 eight US newspaper publishers had alleged that Microsoft and OpenAI used millions of their articles without payment or permission.
In December 2024 a coalition of Canadian news publishers also filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for allegedly using news content to train ChatGPT.
In January 2025 an Indian news publishing group filed to join legal action against OpenAI over alleged misuse of copyrighted materials to train ChatGPT models.
Judge ruling
Now the AP reported that Judge Sidney Stein of New York has dismissed some of the claims made by media organisations, but allowed the bulk of the case to continue, possibly to a jury trial.
“We appreciate Judge Stein’s careful consideration of these issues,” New York Times attorney Ian Crosby said in a statement. “As the order indicates, all of our copyright claims will continue against Microsoft and Open AI for their widespread theft of millions of The Times’s works, and we look forward to continuing to pursue them.”
The judge’s ruling also pleased Frank Pine, executive editor of MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing, owners of some of the newspapers that are part of a consolidated lawsuit in a Manhattan court.
“The claims the court has dismissed do not undermine the main thrust of our case, which is that these companies have stolen our work and violated our copyright in a way that fundamentally damages our business,” Pine said a statement.
Stein didn’t explain the reasons for his ruling, saying that would come “expeditiously.”
OpenAI said in a statement it welcomed “the court’s dismissal of many of these claims and look forward to making it clear that we build our AI models using publicly available data, in a manner grounded in fair use, and supportive of innovation.”
Microsoft declined to comment.
Copyright agreements
It should be noted that OpenAI does have agreements with some newspaper publishers.
In July 2023, the Associated Press struck a licensing deal with OpenAI, and then German publishing giant Axel Springer also reached an agreement for an undisclosed amount.
OpenAI has also signed deals the Financial Times, enabling it to draw on the publishers’ content to improve AI models.
Earlier this month OpenAI had proposed exemptions from state regulations, access to copyrighted materials, promotion of US AI systems abroad, as part of the Trump administration’s plans to create an AI Action Plan by July.
