By: Ismine Osman
Matter Commented On: Canadian News Media Companies v OpenAI, Statement of Claim
PDF Version: The OpenAI Copyright Lawsuit: Could it Backfire on Canadian Media?
Introduction: A Legal Paradox for Canadian Media
In November 2024, a group of Canada’s largest news media companies (Plaintiffs), including the Toronto Star, Metroland Media Group, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press, and CBC/Radio-Canada, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI (Canadian News Media Companies v OpenAI, Statement of Claim (28 November 2024) (Statement of Claim)). They allege that OpenAI scraped and copied content without consent to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models (Statement of Claim at paras 44-45). The Plaintiffs also claim that OpenAI’s models may reproduce parts of this content in user-facing outputs, which could further support the allegation of infringement (Statement of Claim at para 5). Legal commentators, including Michael Geist and Howard Knopf, have already weighed in on the lawsuit’s weaknesses and strategic undertones (see Howard Knopf, “AI Litigation for the Canadian Nation”; Michael Geist, “Canadian Media Companies Target OpenAI in Copyright Lawsuit But Weak Claims Suggest Settlement the Real Goal”).