Publishers Sue OpenAI and Microsoft Over Alleged Copyright Infringement in AI Training

Seattle-based newspaper The Seattle Times and Newsday have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in a US federal court, alleging that the companies copied their copyrighted journalism without permission or payment. The complaint was filed on September 4, 2026.

The publishers claim that OpenAI and Microsoft scraped their websites, including paywalled content, and incorporated copies into datasets used to train and operate generative AI systems. They argue that this constitutes copyright infringement, as the companies failed to obtain licenses or permission from the publishers before using their content.

The complaint cites examples of AI-generated answers that reproduced parts of articles from The Seattle Times and Newsday almost word for word. In one instance, a model allegedly reproduced 88 consecutive words from a Seattle Times article about the Boeing 737 MAX crisis. The complaint also alleges that OpenAI removed copyright information, including authors' names and article titles, from some copies.

The publishers are seeking statutory damages or actual damages and OpenAI and Microsoft's profits, along with attorneys' fees and other costs. They are also asking for a permanent injunction against the alleged infringement and trademark dilution, as well as an order to impound or destroy copies of their works and LLMs that incorporate their content.