Media Covers Hearing in Rothwell Figg's AI Copyright Infringement Suits Against OpenAI and Microsoft on Behalf of The New York Times and Eight NewspapersÂ
The January 14, 2025 hearing in the high-profile artificial intelligence (AI) copyright infringement cases against OpenAI and Microsoft - brought by Rothwell Figg clients The New York Times and eight prominent local newspapers - is covered by the New York Daily News and Law360, among other media outlets.
Rothwell Figg filed two lawsuits, one on behalf of The New York Times and the other on behalf of eight local newspapers, including The Denver Post, The Mercury News, The Orange County Register, The St. Paul Pioneer Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Orlando Sentinel, The Sun Sentinel, and New York Daily News, that were consolidated alongside a similar case filed by The Center for Investigative Reporting Inc.
Judge Sidney Stein of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York held a hearing on Tuesday on defendants' motions. The motions did not move to dismiss the plaintiffs’ copyright infringement claims, but did challenge claims that the defendants violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by removing author and copyright information from the news organizations' content.
Steven Lieberman, arguing on behalf of the plaintiffs, emphasized the consequences of the defendants' removing information to conceal the alleged infringement: "You're leaving people open for massive copyright infringement without the ability to trace it...It's like it causes the alarm system in your house to go down."
Steven detailed how the Rothwell Figg team and hired experts uncovered "millions" of instances of infringement within ChatGPT.
“We wouldn’t have had to do this if they didn’t take steps to conceal their infringement,” Steven argued.
For more insights, PDFs of the full articles are linked below:
- “New York Daily News, NY Times ask federal judge to reject OpenAI, Microsoft challenges to copyright suit” for New York Daily News by Molly Crane Newman
- “OpenAI Products Not Designed To Evade Paywalls, Judge Told” for Law360 by Rachel Scharf
