Authors, newspapers, and other copyright owners claim OpenAI copied their work — without permission — to train ChatGPT. The many suits are now consolidated as MDL 3143, where a judge has let key infringement claims proceed and ordered OpenAI to hand over a huge sample of ChatGPT logs. OpenAI denies infringement and argues fair use.
Allegations Only · Contested Litigation
This article describes ongoing copyright litigation. The claims that OpenAI infringed copyrights are unproven allegations. OpenAI denies infringement and asserts that its use of the works is protected by the fair-use doctrine. No court has decided the merits, and nothing here is legal advice.
What Is This About?
As generative AI tools took off, authors, news organizations, and other copyright owners began suing OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, alleging that the company copied huge amounts of their protected writing — books, articles, and other works — to train its AI models without permission or payment. Some suits also name Microsoft, OpenAI's largest investor and partner. The plaintiffs allege that the models were built on their work and can, at times, reproduce or closely paraphrase it. OpenAI denies infringement and argues that training on publicly available material is protected by the fair-use doctrine — one of the central legal questions of the AI era.In 2025 the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized the various OpenAI copyright cases into MDL No. 3143, In re: OpenAI, Inc., Copyright Infringement Litigation (case 1:25-md-03143), before U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein in the Southern District of New York. High-profile plaintiffs, including news publishers such as The New York Times and groups of authors, are among those whose claims are coordinated there.
Who Is Suing, and What They Want
The plaintiffs fall into a few groups: news publishers whose articles were allegedly used in training and are sometimes reproduced in outputs; individual authors and author organizations bringing class claims; and other rightsholders. Within the MDL, the court ordered the author plaintiffs to file a single consolidated class action complaint so the overlapping author claims move together. Broadly, the plaintiffs seek money damages for the alleged unauthorized copying and court orders limiting how their works can be used going forward. Because the plaintiffs are copyright owners rather than consumers, there is no consumer claim form and no general "sign-up."Where the Litigation Stands in 2026
The case is in active, and at times contentious, discovery. In late 2025, Judge Stein denied OpenAI's motion to dismiss several of the infringement theories tied to ChatGPT's outputs, allowing those claims to proceed. In early 2026, the court affirmed an order requiring OpenAI to produce a large anonymized sample of ChatGPT conversation logs — reportedly on the order of tens of millions of records — rejecting OpenAI's narrower proposal. Status and settlement conferences have been held, but no trial date has been set, and the selection of bellwether cases to test the claims was expected in late 2026. The outcome could help define how U.S. copyright law applies to AI training. For how this case sits among the country's other major litigations, see our MDL tracker.Frequently Asked Questions
What does the OpenAI copyright lawsuit allege?
Authors, news organizations, and other rightsholders allege that OpenAI (and, in some cases, Microsoft) copied their copyrighted works without permission to train ChatGPT and related AI models, and that the models can reproduce or closely paraphrase protected material. OpenAI denies infringement and argues its use of the works is protected as fair use. The claims have not been decided.
Is the New York Times part of this case?
The New York Times is among the high-profile plaintiffs whose copyright cases against OpenAI were centralized. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated the various OpenAI copyright suits — from news publishers and from authors — into MDL 3143 before Judge Sidney H. Stein in the Southern District of New York for coordinated pretrial proceedings.
Can consumers join or claim anything in this case?
No. This is copyright litigation brought by rightsholders — authors, publishers, and similar copyright owners — not a consumer class action, and there is no consumer claim form. A separate author class complaint has been filed within the MDL, but eligibility there is limited to copyright owners whose works are at issue, not the general public.
What is the status of MDL 3143 in 2026?
The litigation is in active discovery. In late 2025 the court denied OpenAI's motion to dismiss several infringement theories tied to ChatGPT outputs, and in early 2026 the judge affirmed an order requiring OpenAI to produce a large anonymized sample of ChatGPT logs. No trial date has been set, and bellwether case selection was expected in late 2026.
Sources
• U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation — MDL 3143 statistics and docket, jpml.uscourts.gov• U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York — In re: OpenAI, Inc., Copyright Infringement Litigation, MDL 3143 (1:25-md-03143), nysd.uscourts.gov
• U.S. Copyright Office — copyright and artificial intelligence resources, copyright.gov/ai
Free settlement alerts
Get notified when new class actions open to claims
Join thousands of readers who get the latest class action settlements you may qualify for — delivered straight to your inbox.
