Microsoft, OpenAI face copyright infringement lawsuit by renowned publication

Microsoft and OpenAI have landed in legal trouble after being hit by a copyrights infringement lawsuit by The New York Times on Wednesday.

As reported by CNBC, The New York Times has accused the technological giants of infringing copyright and abusing the newspaper’s intellectual property.

Microsoft both invests in and supplies OpenAI, providing it with access to the Redmond giant’s Azure cloud computing technology.

In a U.S. District Court for the Southern District filing, The NYT has demanded to held Microsoft and OpenAI accountable for the “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” believed to be owed by the pair for the “unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.”

The New York Timesin an emailed statement noted that it “recognizes the power and potential of GenAI for the public and for journalism.”

However, the NYThas also clarified that the use of journalistic material for commercial gain can only be allowed with the permission from the original source.

“These tools were built with and continue to use independent journalism and content that is only available because we and our peers reported, edited, and fact-checked it at high cost and with considerable expertise,” the publication mentioned in the filing.

“Settled copyright law protects our journalism and content. If Microsoft and OpenAI want to use our work for commercial purposes, the law requires that they first obtain our permission. They have not done so,” the newspaper added.

In the new lawsuit, Susman Godfrey is representing The New York Times, it is a litigation firm that previously represented Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation suit against Fox News, and ended up culminated in a $$787.5 million settlement.