--- title: "The New York Times sues Perplexity, adding to AI copyright battle" id: "2408" type: "post" slug: "new-york-times-sues-perplexity-ai-copyright-lawsuit" published_at: "2025-12-10T11:19:00+00:00" modified_at: "2026-10-28T00:20:17+00:00" url: "https://mediacopilot.ai/new-york-times-sues-perplexity-ai-copyright-lawsuit/" markdown_url: "https://mediacopilot.ai/new-york-times-sues-perplexity-ai-copyright-lawsuit.md" excerpt: "The lawsuit claims the AI search engine grabbed entire articles and falsely attributed hallucinated information to the newspaper." taxonomy_category: - "News" taxonomy_post_tag: - "Perplexity" - "New York Times" - "Copyright" - "Lawsuit" --- # The New York Times sues Perplexity, adding to AI copyright battle The lawsuit claims the AI search engine grabbed entire articles and falsely attributed hallucinated information to the newspaper. ![Blurred night photo of busy city traffic](https://mediacopilot.ai/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/marco-lenti-19CYdO70ss4-unsplash-400x225.jpg) The New York Times sued Perplexity for copyright violation, joining more than 40 copyright cases against AI companies in the U.S. (Photo by [Marco Lenti](https://unsplash.com/@mrlenti?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/cars-parked-on-parking-lot-near-building-during-daytime-19CYdO70ss4?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) ) Dec 10, 2025 By [The Copilot](https://mediacopilot.ai/author/thecopilot/) *The New York Times* filed a federal lawsuit against Perplexity on Friday, accusing the AI search startup of repeatedly violating its copyrights despite 18 months of demands to stop. ### Key Takeaways - The New York Times sued Perplexity for copyright violation after 18 months of warnings. - The suit claims Perplexity grabs full articles and hallucinates content under the Times’ name. - Joins more than 40 active copyright cases against AI companies in the US. [Are you an AI Agent? Read more here >](https://mediacopilot.ai/new-york-times-sues-perplexity-ai-copyright-lawsuit.md) The suit, filed in New York, claims Perplexity’s search engine grabbed large chunks of Times content, including entire articles, to generate responses for users. The Times argues this directly competes with its own offerings. “Perplexity provides commercial products to its own users that substitute for The Times, without permission or remuneration,” the lawsuit states, according to [reporting by Cade Metz and Michael M. Grynbaum in](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/business/new-york-times-perplexity-lawsuit.html) *[The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/business/new-york-times-perplexity-lawsuit.html) .* The suit also accuses Perplexity of damaging the *Times*‘ brand by hallucinating information and falsely attributing it to the newspaper. Perplexity dismissed the lawsuit. “Publishers have been suing new tech companies for a hundred years, starting with radio, TV, the internet, social media and now A.I.,” Jesse Dwyer, Perplexity’s head of communication, told the Times. “Fortunately, it’s never worked, or we’d all be talking about this by telegraph.” The filing joins more than 40 copyright cases against AI companies nationwide. The Chicago Tribune sued Perplexity on Thursday, and Dow Jones filed against the startup last year. **Why it matters for newsrooms:** The case tests whether AI search engines can legally scrape and summarize news content without licensing deals. Many publishers have signed agreements with AI companies, but holdouts like the Times are betting courts will force compensation. In September, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to book authors and publishers after a judge ruled the company illegally downloaded copyrighted books. That ruling could signal trouble for AI companies relying on news content. The *Times* struck its first AI licensing deal with Amazon in May. Financial terms were not disclosed. --- Posts co-authored by The Copilot are drafted with AI and then carefully edited by Media Copilot editors. Our AI-assisted process allows us to bring more valuable content to our readers while preserving accuracy and quality. Contributors - [The Copilot](https://mediacopilot.ai/author/thecopilot/) : AuthorI'm a generative AI writer for The Media Copilot. I help author posts, and with the help of human editors, play a growing role in the site's content strategy. - [Christopher Allbritton](https://mediacopilot.ai/author/christopherallbritton/) : EditorChristopher Allbritton covers AI adoption in journalism and newsroom transformation. He brings 20+ years of journalism experience, including roles as Reuters' Pakistan Bureau Chief and TIME's Middle East Correspondent. Category: [News](https://mediacopilot.ai/category/news/) Tags:[Perplexity](https://mediacopilot.ai/tag/perplexity/) | [Lawsuit](https://mediacopilot.ai/tag/lawsuit/) | [Copyright](https://mediacopilot.ai/tag/copyright/) | [New York Times](https://mediacopilot.ai/tag/new-york-times/) Share this post: [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://mediacopilot.ai/new-york-times-sues-perplexity-ai-copyright-lawsuit/&display=popup&ref=plugin&src=share_button) [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share?url=https://mediacopilot.ai/new-york-times-sues-perplexity-ai-copyright-lawsuit/&text=The%20New%20York%20Times%20sues%20Perplexity%2C%20adding%20to%20AI%20copyright%20battle) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://mediacopilot.ai/new-york-times-sues-perplexity-ai-copyright-lawsuit/) [Email](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cbf4b8bea9a1aea8bff692a4beb9eef9fbadb9a2aea5afeef9fba3aab8eef9fbb8a3aab9aeafeef9fbaaa5eef9fbaab9bfa2a8a7aeeef9fbbca2bfa3eef9fbb2a4bee5ede8fbf8f3f0a9a4afb2f69fa3aeeef9fb85aebceef9fb92a4b9a0eef9fb9fa2a6aeb8eef9fbb8beaeb8eef9fb9baeb9bba7aeb3a2bfb2eef988eef9fbaaafafa2a5aceef9fbbfa4eef9fb8a82eef9fba8a4bbb2b9a2aca3bfeef9fba9aabfbfa7aeeefb8feefb8aa3bfbfbbb8eef88aeef98deef98da6aeafa2aaa8a4bba2a7a4bfe5aaa2eef98da5aebce6b2a4b9a0e6bfa2a6aeb8e6b8beaeb8e6bbaeb9bba7aeb3a2bfb2e6aaa2e6a8a4bbb2b9a2aca3bfe6a7aabcb8bea2bfeef98deefb8feefb8a)