Prominent Authors Seek Dismissal of "Copycat" Lawsuits Against AI Firm OpenAI in New York
Summary:
High-profile authors including Michael Chabon, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Sarah Silverman, currently involved in a lawsuit against AI firm OpenAI for copyright infringement, are pushing a California court to dismiss identical lawsuits by The New York Times, John Grisham, and others in New York. The California plaintiffs claim these lawsuits might result in inconsistent rulings and misuse judicial resources, and suspect OpenAI of seeking more favorable proceedings in New York. This comes amidst multiple lawsuits from copyright owner groups against tech companies, alleging misuse of their work for AI training.
Prominent writers such as Michael Chabon, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Sarah Silverman, who are currently suing AI firm OpenAI for copyright breach, have requested a California court to reject identical lawsuits presented by The New York Times (NYT), John Grisham, and others in New York. A legal document lodged on Thursday, Feb. 8, stated that allowing these "copycat" lawsuits, including the case from the Times and an earlier one filed by the Authors Guild representing Grisham, Franzen, Martin, and other authors, would result in “contradictory judgments in overlapping class actions” and a misuse of judicial resources.
Famed American author-comedian Sarah Silverman, in conjunction with authors Richard Kadrey and Christopher Golden, initiated a legal action against OpenAI’s ChatGPT, alleging copyright violation. The lawsuit filed in July 2023 accused ChatGPT of using copyrighted content when summarizing the plaintiffs' work.
The group of plaintiffs from California, represented legally by attorney Joseph Saveri, professed that the lawsuits from New York allow OpenAI to indulge in "forum shopping" and "procedural gamesmanship." The California authors told the court that the New York cases are remarkably similar to theirs, hence suggesting OpenAI is seeking a favorable environment in New York after the California court rejected its proposed litigation timetable.
Several copyright owner collectives, including authors, visual artists, and music publishers, have sued significant tech entities such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI for supposedly misusing their work for training AI systems. OpenAI, Meta, and other enterprises argue that their AI training is seen as "transformative,” staying within the bounds of fair use copyright laws.
Earlier in September, a New York-based authors union led by the Authors Guild, representing writers like George R.R. Martin, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, George Saunders, and Jonathan Franzen helmed a proposed class-action lawsuit against OpenAI for supposedly using copyrighted material to train AI models.
The New York Times followed with added complaints against OpenAI, using both the United States Constitution and the Copyright Act to protect original NYT journalism.
Published At
2/10/2024 12:23:44 PM
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