Dow Jones won a key victory last week when a federal judge threw out a motion to dismiss its copyright suit against Perplexity.
Based on her
analysis of the facts, Distirct Judge Katherine Polk Failla wrote, “the Court denies Defendant’s motion in full.”
The case dates back to October 2024,
when Dow Jones filed suit, alleging that Perplexity conducted a “massive amount of illegal copying” of content in the New York Post
and The Wall Street Journal.”
Perplexity filed a motion earlier this
year “to dismiss or, in the alternative, to transfer this action to the Northern District of California,” where Perplexity is
headquartered, the judge notes. The case is now on file with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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However, Failla rules that New York is an
appropriate venue given that Perplexity “conducts business in New York in a manner similar to that of a traditional business: Defendant is registered to do business in New York;
rents an office in New York; employs staff, including a 'Chief Strategy Officer,' in New York; recruits employees to work in New York; and specifically targets New York with
advertisements.”
And, in terms of means, “Both Plaintiffs and Defendant are large companies financially capable of litigating in New York or
California,” Failla continues.
The judge also rejected a move by Perplexity to throw the works “Ten Additional Works” because their copyrights were
not filed prior to the initial complaint by Dow Jones. But Dow Jones has since files two amended complaints. This raises the number of copyrighted works in question from 326 to
336.
(Keep in mind that the financial resources alluded to by the judge could make this a long and messy case.)
What happens next?
“The parties are hereby ordered to meet and confer, and submit a proposed case management plan on or before September 19, 2025,” Failla concludes.