WorkSeptember 6, 2026via The Verge AI
Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft for infringement
Why it matters
Copyright litigation against AI companies is escalating from marquee outlets (NYT, Ziff Davis) to regional publishers en masse. This signals growing legal risk for training-data practices and potential precedent-setting on fair use in the generative AI era.
Key signals
- Seattle Times and Newsday sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement
- Nearly 400 local newspapers have joined similar litigation
- Prior suits filed by: New York Times, Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster, Encyclopedia Britannica
- Allegation: unpermissioned use of journalism as training data; model outputs reproduce passages from reporting
- Microsoft named as defendant because Copilot built on OpenAI technology
- Published September 6, 2026 (future-dated article — timestamp anomaly noted)
- Allegations: unauthorized use of journalism as training data; model outputs reproduce passages from reporting
- Similar lawsuits filed by The New York Times, Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster, Encyclopedia Britannica
- Nearly 400 local newspapers have recently sued OpenAI and Microsoft
- Microsoft named as defendant because Copilot is built on OpenAI's technology
- Published September 6, 2026 (appears to be a future date; verify timeliness)
The hook
Nearly 400 newspapers are now suing OpenAI and Microsoft. Here's what changes for AI builders.
The OpenAI logo is displayed on a smartphone screen placed on a reflective surface on which the company's logo is projected in Creteil, France, on September 4, 2026, as OpenAI began rolling out GPT-6 Astra, its most advanced model to date. (Photo by Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhot…