OpenAI is facing a new lawsuit filed by several top Canadian media outlets, accusing the company of copyright infringement. Torstar, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press, and CBC/Radio-Canada jointly filed the suit in Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Friday. The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI has been using articles from these news organizations to train its artificial intelligence systems, including ChatGPT, without permission or compensation.
The media outlets argue that OpenAI has been “infringing, authorizing, and/or inducing the infringement” of their copyrighted works, in violation of Canadian copyright laws. They claim that OpenAI regularly scrapes large amounts of Canadian content to develop its products, profiting from the unauthorized use of news articles, thus violating terms of use and copyright protections.
The legal action seeks punitive damages and a permanent injunction to prevent OpenAI from further using the media organizations’ articles. The lawsuit is part of a broader legal battle OpenAI is facing over similar claims from major publishers like The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Denver Post. Media organizations that have reached licensing agreements with OpenAI include Axel Springer, News Corp., The Associated Press, and others.
Paul Deegan, president and CEO of News Media Canada, emphasized the financial and journalistic investment news organizations make to produce original content, arguing that AI companies like OpenAI are “cannibalizing” proprietary content without compensating the publishers. He stated, “They are strip mining journalism while substantially, unjustly, and unlawfully enriching themselves to the detriment of publishers.”
