The New York Times Company v. Microsoft Corporation

On 3 April 2025, The New York Times Company v. Microsoft Corporation was transferred and consolidated into the multidistrict litigation (MDL), In re OpenAI Copyright Infringement, before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for coordinated pre-trial proceedings.

The New York Times Company v. Microsoft Corporation and OpenAI, Inc. was filed on 27 December 2023, alleging systematic copyright infringement and misuse of Times content to train and deploy ChatGPT and Copilot. The Times claims the defendants scraped and reproduced millions of its articles, including news, reviews, and guides, to build GPT models and display detailed excerpts in AI outputs, diverting readers and ad revenue.

The complaint also highlights “hallucinated” statements falsely attributed to The Times, amounting to reputational harm and public misinformation. Microsoft allegedly co-developed the models, supplied Azure infrastructure, and profited through its $13 billion OpenAI investment.

The suit asserts seven counts, including direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement, removal of copyright information under the DMCA, common law misappropriation, and trademark dilution. The Times seeks billions in damages and injunctive relief to stop further unauthorised use.

Confidential negotiations were scheduled due to take place on 31 October 2025.

This summary is provided for educational and research purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Allegations described are those made in the filings. Please consult the underlying source documents.