# AI copyright lawsuits tracker

URL: https://aidataforsale.com/ai-copyright-lawsuits
Publisher: AI Data For Sale (Marketing Signals Ltd)
Updated: 2026-11-10

A sourced tracker of the AI training data lawsuits that matter: Bartz v. Anthropic, Kadrey v. Meta, NYT v. OpenAI, Thomson Reuters v. Ross, Getty, GEMA and Reddit.

The court cases shaping what AI companies can train on, with each status as reported on the date shown. Not legal advice.

## In short

- Bartz v. Anthropic produced the largest copyright settlement on record, $1.5 billion, given final approval in July 2026.
- US courts have so far found training on lawfully acquired books can be fair use, but not building libraries from pirated copies.
- The Third Circuit upheld the ruling that Ross Intelligence's use of Westlaw material was not fair use, as reported in September 2026.
- A Munich court ruled in November 2025 that memorizing song lyrics in a model infringed; the judgment is under appeal.

## Cases at a glance

| Case | Court | What it is about | Status (as reported) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bartz v. Anthropic | US District Court, N.D. Cal. | Books used to train Claude, including pirated copies | $1.5 billion settlement given final approval, July 2026 |
| Kadrey v. Meta | US District Court, N.D. Cal. | Books used to train Llama | Summary judgment for Meta on fair use, June 25, 2025; torrenting claims continued |
| Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence | Third Circuit (appeal from D. Del.) | Westlaw headnotes used to build a legal search tool | Ruling against fair use upheld, September 2026 |
| The New York Times v. OpenAI and Microsoft | US federal court | Millions of articles used to train ChatGPT | Ongoing; complaint amended June 2026 |
| Getty Images v. Stability AI | UK High Court | Images used to train Stable Diffusion | Judgment November 4, 2025: secondary infringement claims dismissed, limited trademark findings |
| GEMA v. OpenAI | Munich Regional Court | Song lyrics memorized by GPT models | Ruled for GEMA, November 2025; OpenAI appealing |
| Reddit v. Anthropic | California state court | Scraping Reddit in breach of its terms | Filed June 4, 2025; sent back to state court March 30, 2026 |
| Reddit v. SerpApi, Oxylabs, AWMProxy and Perplexity | US District Court, S.D.N.Y. | Scraping Reddit via Google results and reselling it | Filed October 22, 2025 |
| Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. v. Midjourney | US federal court, California | Image generator trained on and outputting studio characters | In discovery, May 2026 |

## Bartz v. Anthropic

Authors alleged Anthropic trained Claude on pirated books. Judge William Alsup ruled that training on legally purchased books could be fair use, but that Anthropic was not entitled to use pirated copies to build a central library. The case then settled for $1.5 billion, about $3,000 per book, the largest copyright settlement on record. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín gave final approval in July 2026 ([JURIST](https://www.jurist.org/news/2026/07/judge-approves-record-1-5-billion-settlement-involving-anthropic/)).

What it means: the source of data matters as much as its use. Lawfully acquired, licensed data is the low-risk route.

## Kadrey v. Meta

On June 25, 2025, Judge Vince Chhabria granted Meta partial summary judgment, finding that training Llama on the plaintiffs' books was fair use because the plaintiffs did not offer meaningful evidence of market harm. He stressed the ruling did not mean all training on copyrighted works is lawful, and suggested plaintiffs with better evidence of market dilution could win ([Akin Gump](https://www.akingump.com/en/insights/ai-law-and-regulation-tracker/second-district-court-rules-ai-training-can-be-fair-use)).

What it means: evidence of a licensing market strengthens rights holders' arguments, which is one reason licensing deals are being publicized.

## Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence

Ross built an AI legal search tool using material derived from Westlaw. The district court rejected Ross's fair use defense. In September 2026 the Third Circuit upheld that ruling in what was reported as the first appellate decision in the wave of AI training cases; its reasoning was filed under seal ([Talking Biz News](https://talkingbiznews.com/media-news/court-upholds-ai-ruling-in-favor-of-reuters-parent/)).

## The New York Times v. OpenAI and Microsoft

The Times sued in late 2023, alleging millions of its articles were used to train ChatGPT and other tools. In June 2026 it amended its complaint, modifying one claim against Microsoft and dropping another against OpenAI ([GigaLaw](https://giga.law/daily-news/2026/6/27/new-york-times-amends-copyright-suit-against-openai-microsoft)). The case is ongoing.

## Getty Images v. Stability AI (UK)

Getty dropped its primary infringement claims during trial. On November 4, 2025, the High Court dismissed its secondary copyright infringement claims and found some trademark infringement, which the judge called extremely limited in scope ([Cleary Gottlieb](https://www.clearygottlieb.com/news-and-insights/publication-listing/uk-high-court-issues-landmark-ruling-in-getty-images-v-stability-ai)).

## GEMA v. OpenAI (Germany)

The Munich Regional Court found that song lyrics were embedded in GPT-4 and GPT-4o and could be reproduced with simple prompts. It accepted that training generally falls within Germany's text and data mining exception, but held that memorizing the lyrics went beyond it. It granted injunctive relief, disclosure and damages. OpenAI announced an appeal ([Bird & Bird](https://cm.twobirds.com/en/insights/2025/landmark-ruling-of-the-munich-regional-court-(gema-v-openai)-on-copyright-and-ai-training)).

## Reddit's cases

Reddit sued Anthropic in San Francisco Superior Court on June 4, 2025, for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, trespass to chattels and unfair competition. A federal judge sent the case back to state court on March 30, 2026 ([Crowell & Moring](https://www.crowell.com/en/insights/client-alerts/northern-district-of-california-court-holds-state-tort-and-contract-claims-not-preempted-by-federal-copyright-act-remands-reddit-v-anthropic-to-state-court)). In October 2025 Reddit sued SerpApi, Oxylabs, AWMProxy and Perplexity in New York, alleging they scraped Reddit content through Google search results ([Claims Journal](https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2025/10/22/333662.htm)).

What it means: contract and platform terms can restrict data use even where copyright might not. Check the terms that govern any data you license.

## Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. v. Midjourney

The studios began suing Midjourney in June 2025 and consolidated their cases in November 2025. In May 2026 the parties were in a discovery dispute before a magistrate judge ([Graphic Policy](https://graphicpolicy.com/2026/05/11/disney-warner-bros-universal-and-midjourney-discovery-dispute/)).

## How this affects data deals

- Buyers want warranties that data was lawfully obtained and that the seller holds the rights granted.
- Sellers with clean rights and documentation have leverage.
- Licenses should state what happens if a third party claims rights in the data.

Read [AI data license agreement](https://aidataforsale.com/learn/ai-data-license-agreement) and [fair use](https://aidataforsale.com/glossary/fair-use).

## Read next

- [Fair use (glossary)](https://aidataforsale.com/glossary/fair-use)
- [AI data licensing deals](https://aidataforsale.com/ai-data-deals)
- [Is selling company data legal?](https://aidataforsale.com/learn/is-selling-company-data-legal)

## Questions

### Is training AI on copyrighted data fair use?

US courts have reached different results on different facts. Two California rulings in 2025 found training on lawfully acquired books could be fair use; the Ross ruling found the opposite for a competing legal research tool. The question is not settled.

### What was the Anthropic settlement?

In Bartz v. Anthropic, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion, about $3,000 per book, to settle claims over pirated books. The court gave final approval in July 2026.

### How often is this tracker updated?

We update it when a listed case reaches a ruling or settlement, and date each status. Email us if we have missed a development.

## Sources

- [JURIST: Judge approves record $1.5 billion AI copyright settlement involving Anthropic (July 2026)](https://www.jurist.org/news/2026/07/judge-approves-record-1-5-billion-settlement-involving-anthropic/)
- [Akin Gump AI law tracker: Second district court rules AI training can be fair use (Kadrey v. Meta, June 2025)](https://www.akingump.com/en/insights/ai-law-and-regulation-tracker/second-district-court-rules-ai-training-can-be-fair-use)
- [Talking Biz News: Court upholds AI ruling in favor of Reuters parent (September 2026)](https://talkingbiznews.com/media-news/court-upholds-ai-ruling-in-favor-of-reuters-parent/)
- [GigaLaw: New York Times amends copyright suit against OpenAI, Microsoft (June 2026)](https://giga.law/daily-news/2026/6/27/new-york-times-amends-copyright-suit-against-openai-microsoft)
- [Cleary Gottlieb: UK High Court issues landmark ruling in Getty Images v Stability AI (November 2025)](https://www.clearygottlieb.com/news-and-insights/publication-listing/uk-high-court-issues-landmark-ruling-in-getty-images-v-stability-ai)
- [Bird & Bird: Landmark ruling of the Munich Regional Court (GEMA v OpenAI) on copyright and AI training](https://cm.twobirds.com/en/insights/2025/landmark-ruling-of-the-munich-regional-court-(gema-v-openai)-on-copyright-and-ai-training)
- [Crowell & Moring: Court remands Reddit v. Anthropic to state court (2026)](https://www.crowell.com/en/insights/client-alerts/northern-district-of-california-court-holds-state-tort-and-contract-claims-not-preempted-by-federal-copyright-act-remands-reddit-v-anthropic-to-state-court)
- [Claims Journal: Reddit sues Perplexity, others over alleged data scraping (October 2025)](https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2025/10/22/333662.htm)
- [Graphic Policy: Disney, Warner Bros., Universal and Midjourney discovery dispute (May 2026)](https://graphicpolicy.com/2026/05/11/disney-warner-bros-universal-and-midjourney-discovery-dispute/)
- [US Copyright Office: Fair use index](https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/)