Background of the Lawsuit

The New York Times filed a copyright infringement suit against Perplexity, an AI‑driven search startup. The newspaper alleges that Perplexity’s commercial offerings substitute for the Times’ original reporting without obtaining permission or providing remuneration.

Allegations of Unauthorized Use

According to the complaint, Perplexity employs retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) technology to crawl the internet, gather content from the Times and other outlets, and then repurpose that material in its chatbot and browser‑assistant products. The lawsuit states that the resulting responses often contain verbatim or near‑verbatim excerpts, summaries, or abridgments of the Times’ copyrighted works.

Perplexity’s Response and Programs

Perplexity has previously launched a Publishers’ Program that offers participating outlets a share of advertising revenue. It also introduced a subscription service called Comet Plus, directing a large portion of its fees to participating publishers. In addition, the company secured a multi‑year licensing agreement with Getty Images.

Legal Goals and Potential Impact

The Times seeks monetary damages and an injunction that would bar Perplexity from further use of its content. The filing joins a wave of litigation from other media organizations that accuse Perplexity of similar practices, reflecting broader industry concerns about AI‑driven content aggregation and the need for licensing frameworks.

Industry Context

Publishers have historically used lawsuits to negotiate licensing deals with emerging technologies. The New York Times’ action underscores ongoing tensions between traditional news outlets and AI companies that rely on large‑scale data scraping to power their services.

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