The New York Times and several other major newspapers have filed lawsuits against Brave Software, accusing the company behind the Brave web browser of illegally copying their articles and providing the content to artificial intelligence companies.
The lawsuits, filed on Monday, November 2, in a federal court in Manhattan, also accuse Brave of helping users bypass newspaper paywalls to read paid articles for free.
The publishers claim Brave collected their copyrighted content without permission and made money by providing it to AI companies, including Anthropic, Perplexity, and xAI.
However, these allegations have not been proven in court.
Accused of Selling Content to AI Companies
The lawsuits were filed by The New York Times, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, and Orlando Sentinel.
According to the complaints, Brave collects articles from news websites using automated software and stores the information in its search database.
This process, commonly called web scraping, allows companies to collect large amounts of information from websites.
The newspapers claim Brave copied their reporting without obtaining permission or paying licensing fees.
They also allege that Brave sells access to the collected information through its search services, allowing AI companies to use the material for training models or generating answers.
The complaints identify Anthropic, Perplexity, xAI, and other AI developers as companies that allegedly received access to the content.
However, those AI companies are not defendants in the lawsuits.
The publishers argue that Brave is making money from journalism produced by newspapers without properly compensating them.
Accused of Bypassing Paywalls
The newspapers have also raised concerns about Brave’s browser features.
Many news websites place some of their articles behind paywalls, requiring readers to purchase subscriptions before accessing the content.
However, the publishers claim Brave offers features that allow users to get around these restrictions.
According to the lawsuits, this gives readers access to paid journalism without subscribing to the publications.
The newspapers argue that these features could reduce subscription revenue and affect their ability to earn money from their reporting.
The complaints also accuse Brave of blocking publishers’ advertisements while displaying or selling its own advertising services.
The publishers are seeking financial compensation and court orders to stop the alleged copyright violations.
New York Times Says Brave Ignored Its Requests
The New York Times said it had repeatedly asked Brave to stop using its copyrighted material without permission.
However, the newspaper claims Brave continued its activities despite those requests.
New York Times spokesperson Graham James said the company supports responsible AI development but believes Brave has violated copyright laws.
The lawsuits also accuse Brave of acting as a supplier of copyrighted news content to other technology companies.
The newspapers argue that companies should obtain permission before using their journalism for commercial AI products.
Perplexity Responds to the Lawsuit
Perplexity, one of the AI companies mentioned in the complaints, rejected the allegations.
A company spokesperson criticized The New York Times and questioned the accuracy of its claims.
Meanwhile, Brave, Anthropic, and xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuits.
It is important to note that the complaints target Brave Software, not the AI companies named as customers of its services.
The allegations will now be examined through the legal process.
Another Major Lawsuit Over AI and Copyright
The new lawsuits are part of a growing legal dispute between news publishers and artificial intelligence companies.
The New York Times and other publications have already filed separate copyright lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft over the alleged use of their articles to train AI models.
Publishers argue that technology companies should obtain permission and pay for copyrighted news content used in commercial AI services.
The companies involved in these broader disputes have challenged the publishers’ claims, including through arguments about how copyright law applies to AI development.
The latest cases against Brave could help clarify how existing copyright rules apply to AI search engines, web scraping, and tools that allow users to access subscription-based content.
For now, Brave faces allegations of copyright infringement and unlawful paywall bypassing, but no court has determined that the company violated the law in these cases.
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