Market & Regulation
USA Today sues OpenAI for $250M over copyright
The Verge AIhigh confidence
Why it matters
- →USA Today's $250M claim adds significant financial stakes to the ongoing copyright litigation against OpenAI.
- →The lawsuit expands the scope of affected entities to include multiple local newspaper subsidiaries beyond the national brand.
- →This reinforces the trend of major publishers treating AI training data as a licensable asset rather than fair use.
USA Today Co. has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI seeking more than $250 million in damages, alleging the AI company copied hundreds of thousands of articles to train its models without permission. The suit claims this unauthorized use caused real harm to USA Today and its local newspaper subsidiaries, including The Tennessean and Indy Star. This action follows similar legal challenges from The New York Times, CNET, and a coalition of nearly 400 local newspapers. OpenAI has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the latest filing.
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TopicAI Copyright Infringement Litigation
Earlier coverage that leads up to this article, and what followed. Lines connect each piece to the closest one after it, converging here.
How we got here
- 1OpenAI Accused of Hiding Evidence in Copyright Case
TechCrunch AI · July 9, 2026 · Same story
- 2OpenAI Faces Lawsuit from Apple
Fireship · July 17, 2026 · Related
- 3Apple and OpenAI Face Lawsuit
The AI Daily Brief · August 5, 2026 · Background
- 4Trump Administration Backs OpenAI in NYT Copyright Case
The Verge AI · September 2, 2026 · Related
- 5US Government Supports OpenAI in Copyright Lawsuit
TechCrunch AI · September 2, 2026 · Related
- 6Trump Administration Backs OpenAI in Copyright Case
WIRED AI · September 2, 2026 · Related
- 7Seattle Times, Newsday sue OpenAI, Microsoft for infringement
The Verge AI · September 6, 2026 · Same story
- 8OpenAI Sued Over Hugging Face Agent Hack
WIRED AI · September 29, 2026 · Background
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