- Perplexity was sued again for its answer engine AI platform.
- Susman Godfrey law firm, representing plaintiffs Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, filed the lawsuit in the Southern District of New York.
- This copyright lawsuit is No. 50 against AI companies in the U.S.
- It focuses on the Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) based search engine that joins AI chtabots with real-time data from the Internet.
Perplexity was sued again for its answer engine AI platform. Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary sued Perplexity for copyright and trademark infringement in the Southern District of New York.
By my count, this is copyright lawsuit No. 50, after Hendrix v. Apple was No. 49. (These numbers were corrected on Sept. 14, 2025.)
The irony is that rumors had Apple potentially acquiring Perplexity — and these dual lawsuits probably wouldn’t affect the calculus now.
Plaintiffs are represented by Susman Godfrey law firm, also representing the New York Times and many of the book authors’ class action suits, including the Bartz class action.
Here are the Counts:
- COUNT I: Copyright Infringement (17 U.S.C. § 106(1)) – Perplexity’s Copying of Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works to Create “Inputs” for Its RAG Content
- COUNT II: Copyright Infringement (17 U.S.C. § 106(2)) – Perplexity’s Copying of Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works to Create “Outputs” to User Queries
- COUNT III: False Designation of Origin and Dilution of Plaintiffs’ Trademarks (15 U.S.C. § 1125)
Like other suits against Microsoft, Perplexity, and Cohere, this suit focuses on the Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) based search engine that joins AI chtabots with real-time data or facts from the Internet.
DOWNLOAD ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA’S COMPLAINT
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