Trump admin backs OpenAI in NYT copyright case, calls AI training fair use
The Trump administration filed a statement of interest in the New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, arguing that training large language models on copyrighted works generally constitutes fair use. The brief cites the U.S. interest in maintaining a competitive AI industry.
Coverage timeline
Techmeme
Blake Brittain / Reuters : The Trump administration files a brief supporting OpenAI in its dispute with NYT, saying training LLMs on copyrighted works generally constitutes fair use — The Trump administration has filed a brief supporting OpenAI in its dispute with the New York Times (NYT.N) and several other newspapers …
The Verge AIHayden Field
The Trump administration has intervened in The New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, making an argument in favor of the AI lab. The landmark lawsuit, filed in December 2023 , alleging that OpenAI unlawfully trained its AI systems on articles from The New York Times and seeks to recoup "billions of dollars" in damages from both Microsoft and OpenAI. This week, the Trump administration filed a statement of interest in the case, supporting OpenAI's argument that it's fair use to train an AI model on copyrighted text. " The New York Times seeks to narrow fair-use doctrine to exclude the training of OpenAl's large language models (L … Read the full story at The Verge.
TechCrunch AIAmanda Silberling
"The United States has a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive artificial intelligence industry that sets the standard for the practice and procedure of AI use globally," the brief reads.
Related stories
Apple seeks court approval for experts to review forensic images, OpenAI hardware R&D documents
In its lawsuit against OpenAI and other defendants, Apple has asked the court to allow its own experts to review forensic images used in the case and to seek documents related to parts of OpenAI's hardware research and development. The request was reported by 9to5Mac on September 22, 2026.
1 reports · 1 sources
USPTO, Copyright Office Surprised by DOJ Brief Backing OpenAI in NYT Case
Axios reports that the USPTO and the US Copyright Office were surprised by the Department of Justice's statement of interest supporting OpenAI and Microsoft in the New York Times copyright infringement lawsuit. The surprise suggests inter-agency disagreement over the legal position taken by the DOJ.
Seattle Times and Newsday Sue OpenAI and Microsoft Over Training Data
The Seattle Times and Newsday filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the companies used their journalism to train AI models without permission and that the AI often reproduces passages from their reporting. The lawsuit warns that generative AI could leave the journalism industry 'broken beyond repair' and describes the technology as 'a snake eating its own tail.' The publishers join a growing list of outlets, including The New York Times and nearly 400 local newspapers, that have sued the two companies.
2 reports · 2 sources
Microsoft: Only ~60K of 8.2M Copilot logs matched 16+ words of news content
In new court filings, Microsoft argues that its Copilot chatbot rarely reproduces substantial text from news articles, citing an analysis of 8.2 million chat logs provided during discovery. The analysis, conducted by an expert hired by news publishers, found that only about 60,000 logs contained at least 16 words matching news content, less than 1 percent of the total. Microsoft claims the logs were selected because they were most likely to contain publishers' works, supporting its defense against copyright claims from The New York Times and book authors.
News updates every hour. Subscribe in your RSS reader to get new stories automatically.
Subscribe