Chicago Tribune just sued Perplexity AI. This is the 64th copyright lawsuit filed against an AI company in the United States.
Counts: (1) Copyright Infringement (17 U.S.C. § 106(1)) – Perplexity’s Acquisition of the Chicago Tribune’s Copyrighted Works to Create “Inputs” for its GenAI Products; Copyright Infringement (17 U.S.C. § 106(2)) – Perplexity’s Copying of the Chicago Tribune’s Copyrighted Works to Create “Outputs” to User Queries; (3) Contributory and Vicarious Copyright Infringement; (4) False Designation of Origin and Dilution of the Chicago Tribune’s Trademark (15 U.S.C. § 1125), (5) Trademark Infringement (15 U.S.C. § 1114).
The Chicago Tribune is represented by Steven Lieberman, Jennifer B. Maisel, Robert Parker, Jenny L. Colgate, Kristen J. Logan, Bryan B. Thompson, Alexandra Hughes, ROTHWELL, FIGG, ERNST & MANBECK, P.C.
This is the 5th suit — and 3rd in 8 days — filed by the law firm of Rothwell Figg. It probably is not the last.
The Chicago Tribune is seeking to make the case related to Dow Jones v. Perplexity and be assigned to Judge Polk Failla:
“This lawsuit is brought on behalf of news publisher the Chicago Tribune Company, LLC
(“Chicago Tribune”). The Chicago Tribune asserts overlapping copyright claims against the same
Defendant as the Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. cases. The
claims arise from substantially similar acts, including the Defendant’s unauthorized use of the
Chicago Tribune’s content to power Defendant’s generative artificial intelligence products and
tools. Accordingly, some of the basic legal theories, sources of liability, relief requested, basis of
jurisdiction, and factual allegations regarding Defendant’s conduct brought in the Dow Jones &
Company, Inc. and Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. cases are the same. We expect that there will
be substantial overlap between the legal and factual issues between the cases, and designating
these cases as related would avoid duplicative efforts, expenses, and burdens on the Court.”
Excerpts of Complaint:
DOWNLOAD THE COMPLAINT