The blurring line between AI-related copyright infringement lawsuits and AI licensing agreements

Issue 21 

A few weeks ago, this newsletter checked in on 40+ AI-related copyright infringement lawsuits making their way through the nation’s court system. This week we’re looking at the intersection of those copyright infringement lawsuits and the AI licensing market. 

Copyright holders and AI companies have been striking licensing deals that compensate the copyright holders for the use of their copyrighted works in training AI models and for use in AI products. The New York Times and OpenAI reportedly discussed a potential licensing deal before The New York Times filed its copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI in December 2023.[i]  

OpenAI has entered into AI licensing agreements with a number of other publishers, including:

• AP;[ii]
• News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Barron’s, and more;[iii]
• TIME;[iv]
• The Atlantic;[v]
• Vox Media, which includes Vox, The Verge, Eater, The Cut, Vulture and SB Nation;[vi] 
• Dotdash Meredith, the publisher of People, InStyle, and Better Homes & Gardens;[vii] and
• Condé Nast, which includes Condé Nast Traveler, Vogue, Wired, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, and more.[viii]   

Other AI companies that are defendants in AI-related copyright lawsuits have also entered into licensing deals. For example, Meta has entered an AI licensing deal with Reuters[ix]. In the last few weeks, Google has formed an AI licensing deal with AP.[x] Additionally, HarperCollins and Microsoft have entered into a deal that allows individual nonfiction authors the right to opt in to a licensing agreement with Microsoft.[xi] 

On the plaintiff side, Dow Jones (which is a plaintiff in an AI-related copyright lawsuit against Perplexity AI), has forged licensing agreements with nearly 4,000 news publishers around the world for its AI search feature.[xii] Additionally, there is a new AI licensing marketplace called Created by Humans, which was launched in partnership with the Author’s Guild, which is a named plaintiff in a class action copyright infringement lawsuit against several OpenAI entities.[xiii] Created by Humans allows authors to include their books in its online marketplace, and opt in or out of different AI licensing options that would permit the author to receive compensation when their books are used by an AI company.[xiv] 

The delineation between the AI copyright lawsuits and AI licensing market has arguably begun to blur as plaintiffs attempt to use the growing AI licensing market to substantiate their claims. For example, in The Intercept Media, Inc. v. OpenAI, Inc. et al., in the factual background section of his opinion and order on defendants' motions to dismiss dated February 20, 2025, the Hon. Jed S. Rakoff noted, 

The Intercept argues that by downloading its articles without permission, OpenAI “infringes [its] copyright,” namely “the right to control reproductions of copyright-protected works.” Id. ¶ 61. In support, The Intercept notes that OpenAI has acknowledged that it needs a license to use copyright-protected works to train ChatGPT, including by entering into agreements with large copyright owners. Id. ¶ 77. Although The Intercept admits that an OpenAI employee explained that “these deals focus on ‘the display of news content and use of the tools and tech,’ and are thus ‘largely not’ about training,” it interprets the latter part of this quote to “confir[m] that these deals involve training, at least in part.” Id. ¶ 79.[xv]

As another example, in a complaint filed February 13, 2025, a number of news and magazine publishers, including some of the publishers named above who have entered into licensing deals with OpenAI, filed a lawsuit against Cohere, Inc., alleging that Cohere has scraped their articles for its AI service, which competes with the publishers' offerings and the emerging AI licensing market.[xvi]  The complaint goes on to explain generally how publishers license their content as a source of income, and to specifically make the case that there is an emerging licensing market between publishers and AI companies.[xvii]  

At this point it is too early to tell how the AI-related copyright lawsuits and AI licensing deals will impact one another in the long term.  As the AI-related copyright lawsuits progress, it will be interesting to observe whether plaintiffs will prove successful in their efforts to use the growing AI licensing market to substantiate their claims.

Thanks for being here. 

Jennifer
Good Journey Consulting

[i] Jeremy Kahn, What the New York Times’ copyright suit against OpenAI Means, Fortune (Jan. 2, 2024 9:32 PST), https://fortune.com/2024/01/02/new-york-times-openai-microsoft-copyright-lawsuit/. 

[ii] Matt O’Brien, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI signs deal with AP to license new stories, AP (Jul. 13, 2023 8:41 PDT), https://apnews.com/article/openai-chatgpt-associated-press-ap-f86f84c5bcc2f3b98074b38521f5f75a. 

[iii] Michelle Chapman, OpenAI to start using news content from News Corp. As part of a multiyear deal, AP (May 29, 2024 4:01 PDT), https://apnews.com/article/openai-news-corp-a49144d381796df5729c746f52fbef19. 

[iv] Sara Fischer, Exclusive: Time strikes licensing deal with OpenAI, Axios (Jun. 27, 2024), https://www.axios.com/2024/06/27/openai-time-licensing-deal-chatgpt. 

[v] Sara Fischer, Exclusive: The Atlantic, Vox Media ink licensing, product deals with OpenAI, Axios (May 29, 2024), https://www.axios.com/2024/05/29/atlantic-vox-media-openai-licensing-deal. 

[vi] Id. 

[vii] Richard Lawler, OpenAI is paying Dotdash Meredith at least $16 million a year to license its content for AI, The Verge (Nov. 18, 2024 16:45 PST), https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/18/24300144/openai-is-paying-dotdash-meredith-at-least-16-million-a-year-to-license-its-content-for-ai. 

[viii] Caitlin Huston, Condé Nast Inks Multiyear OpenAI Deal for Its Magazine Brands, Hollywood Reporter (Aug. 20, 2024 11:13 AM), https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/conde-nast-inks-multiyear-openai-deal-for-its-magazine-brands-1235979339/. 

[ix] Meta Platforms to use Reuters news content in AI chatbot, Reuters (Oct. 25, 2024 13:54 PDT), https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/meta-platforms-use-reuters-news-content-ai-chatbot-2024-10-25/. 

[x] Matt O’Brien, Google signs deal with AP to deliver up-to-date news through its Gemini AI chatbot, AP (Jan. 15, 2025 15:08 PST), https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/meta-platforms-use-reuters-news-content-ai-chatbot-2024-10-25/. 

[xi] HarperCollins AI Licensing Deal, The Authors Guild (Nov. 19, 2024), https://authorsguild.org/news/harpercollins-ai-licensing-deal/. 

[xii] Andrew Deck, Dow Jones negotiates AI usage agreements with nearly 4,000 news publishers, NiemanLab (Dec. 5, 2024 11:14 AM), https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/12/dow-jones-negotiates-ai-usage-agreements-with-nearly-4000-news-publishers/#:~:text=Business%20Models-,Dow%20Jones%20negotiates%20AI%20usage%20agreements%20with%20nearly%204%2C000%20news,its%20own%20AI%20licensing%20deals.  

[xiii] Chloe Veltman, Major authors hope new AI licensing site will help them keep control of their books, NPR (Jan. 17, 2025 16:11 EST), https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/nx-s1-5259845/new-ai-licensing-platform-for-book-authors; Authors Guild et al. v. OpenAI Inc. et al., No. 1:23-cv-08292 (S.D.N.Y. filed Sept. 19, 2023).  

[xiv] Created by Humans, https://www.createdbyhumans.ai/ (last visited Feb. 6, 2025).  

[xv] Opinion and Order at 7, The Intercept Media, Inc. v. OpenAI, Inc. et al., No. 1:24-cv-01515 (S.D.N.Y. filed Feb. 28, 2024).

[xvi] Complaint at 2,  Advance Local Media LLC et al. v. Cohere Inc., No. 1:25-cv-01305 (S.D.N.Y. filed Feb. 13, 2025). The plaintiffs in this case are Advance Local Media LLC, Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. dba Condé Nast, The Atlantic Monthly Group LLC, Forbes Media LLC, Guardian News & Media Limited, Insider, Inc., Los Angeles Times Communications LLC, The McClatchy Company, LLC, Newsday, LLC, Plain Dealer Publishing Co., Politico LLC, The Republican Company, Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, and Vox Media, LLC. Id. at 1.  

 [xvii] Id. at 14-17.