New York Times Files Lawsuit Against Brave Software Over Alleged Copyright Infringement
The New York Times and several other newspaper publishers have initiated legal action against Brave Software, contending that the company unlawfully circumvents paywalls and sells copyrighted news content to artificial intelligence firms.
In a lawsuit lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the newspaper claims that “Brave acts as the supplier, dealer, and distributor of stolen copyrighted content” for its users, as well as prominent AI companies such as Anthropic, Perplexity, Mistral, xAI, and Cohere. The lawsuit alleges that Brave has generated upwards of $100 million by unlawfully copying and reselling publishers’ works without obtaining necessary permissions, leaving publishers without any revenue.
The complaint asserts that AI firms pay Brave to access real-time online content from its search index, which they use to train their AI models and respond to specific queries. The NYT pointed out that the Brave Search API is leveraged by several leading AI names, including Cohere, Mistral, Perplexity, and You.com.
The suit encompasses various forms of copyright infringement, including direct, contributory, and vicarious infringement. It accuses Brave of directly infringing copyrights by scraping articles for its search index, the “Ask Brave” AI feature, and the Brave API, which purportedly serves as an unauthorized source of copyrighted content, including material from the Times.
Additionally, the lawsuit labels Brave a contributory and vicarious infringer for allegedly inducing, facilitating, and profiting from the unauthorized copying of copyrighted content by its users and AI customers. It also claims that Brave violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by bypassing technological measures designed to restrict access to copyrighted articles.
According to the lawsuit, “The Brave Browser includes a default setting that, when activated, allows the browser to circumvent website paywalls and deliver the restricted content to the user.” Furthermore, it states that Brave blocks advertising intended to appear on the Times website, replacing it with its own ads while sharing revenue with users, thus depriving the Times of essential digital advertising income that supports journalistic endeavors.
Editor’s Take
This lawsuit highlights the growing tensions between content creators and technology companies, particularly those operating in the AI space. If successful, it could reshape how companies like Brave operate and interact with copyrighted materials, significantly impacting users’ access to content. This case could also lead to closer scrutiny of paywall circumvention technologies, necessitating a clearer dialogue around intellectual property rights in the digital age.
Source: arstechnica.com
