Commentary

Summoning OpenAI: Company Faces A Busy Legal Calendar

OpenAI makes news in one form or another just about every day.  

Whether it’s new technology, deals being cut or statements by the CEO, there is always plenty to read about.

But the main source of content for those with a certain mindset is the company’s rich legal history.

The docket is full to overflowing in the U.S., between lawsuits filed by The New York Times, The Author’s Guild, Gannett, eight Alden Global Capital titles and the Center for Investigative Reporting. But now the first such case has been filed in the UK. 

Mumsnet, an online platform featuring over six billion words shared by community members, has launched a suit, containing the usual allegations — that OpenAI scraped its content without permission. Earlier, the sides reportedly failed to reach a deal, according to TechRadar.  

“We know that taking on a multinational giant like OpenAI is not an easy task in the face of the huge resources they’ll throw at us but this is too important an issue to simply roll over,” says Justine Roberts, Mumsnet Founder and CEO, TechRadar reports.  

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Well said. But then there’s the better news (for OpenAI) that a group of open-source developers dropped OpenAI from their copyright lawsuit, which is continuing against GitHub and Microsoft. 

Meanwhile, Associated Press provided an inside look at a case filed in January by two distinguished octogenarian journalists: Nicholas Gage and Nicholas Basbanes.

The two friends, who live near each other in Massachusetts, charge that their work “has been systematically pilfered by” OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft, according to AP.  

The case has been merged with a larger case led by  John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and George R. R. Martin, AP writes. 

One thing is for sure: there are any number of lawyers who will be putting their kids through college with the fees from these lawsuits. 

 

 

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