Perplexity is ending the year in a familiar place—in trouble.
Japan’s Mainichi Newspapers Co. has sent a letter to the search firm, accusing it of
“free riding” on the news content of the Mainichi Shimbum.
The letter also charges that Perplexity is presenting “hallucinations”
containing incorrect information, according to The Mainichi.
For instance, it answered a
question about photographer Yuka Komatsu by stating she had won the Kochi nonfiction award, when it was actually the Kaiko Takeshi nonfiction award, wrongly sourcing this mistake to the
Shimbum, The Mainichi reports.
Such misrepresentations are illegal and will “damage the newspaper’s credibility,” it adds, noting that Nikkei
Inc. and The Asahi Shimbun Co. have sued Perplexity for similar alleged actions.
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In August, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, sued Perplexity for allegedly "free-riding" on
its content.
Meanwhile, The New York Times and Chicago Tribune Co., which sued Perplexity within one day of each other earlier this month, have asked the court to
consolidate the cases.
The letter notes that “substantial overlap between the legal and factual issues among the cases, and designating these cases as related
would avoid duplicative efforts, expenses, and burdens on the Court.” The letter was sent by Steven Lieberman of the Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck law firm, which represents both
the Chicago Tribune Co. and the Times.
Perplexity has also been sued by Dow Jones and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The outcome of all this may
be licensing agreements on the global scale. But there will be many months of discovery and other other developments.