News Outlets Seek Sanctions Against OpenAI in Copyright Dispute
A coalition of news organizations led by the New York Times asked a federal judge on July 9, 2026 to sanction OpenAI for allegedly withholding evidence in a copyright dispute that has stretched across more than two years. Court filings reviewed by TechCrunch accuse OpenAI of deliberately failing to preserve training data and output logs that could reveal how ChatGPT reproduces their journalism. The motion asks the court to rule that ChatGPT outputs show “substantial and systematic grounding on and regurgitation” of their reporting and to order OpenAI to pay attorneys’ fees.
What did the publishers accuse OpenAI of hiding?
The publishers, in their Thursday filing, claimed OpenAI “intentionally hid its discovery capabilities” throughout the litigation. The request follows two earlier court orders: one compelling OpenAI to preserve all ChatGPT conversations, including deleted ones, and another requiring the company to hand over 20 million anonymized chat logs to the plaintiffs.
How did the New York Times case begin?
The case was filed in December 2023, when the Times sued OpenAI and its backer Microsoft, alleging that OpenAI trained its generative models on millions of Times articles without permission. The complaint argued that ChatGPT can reproduce “substantial and systematic” portions of the newspaper’s reporting.
What is OpenAI’s fair use defense?
OpenAI has consistently maintained that training on publicly available material is protected under fair use. The company argues that its systems learn general patterns rather than storing specific copies of articles, and that pure regurgitation of newspaper content by ChatGPT is rare.
The legal terrain remains unsettled. A federal judge ruled in June 2025, in a separate case, that Anthropic’s training on lawfully acquired books constituted fair use. Months later, in October 2025, a different judge allowed a class-action lawsuit by authors including George R.R. Martin to proceed, finding that AI outputs can be substantially similar to copyrighted works.
How many other copyright suits is OpenAI facing?
The Times case is one of dozens of copyright actions against OpenAI. Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster filed a separate suit in March 2026 alleging “massive copyright infringement.” In 2023, actress Sarah Silverman joined authors Richard Kadrey and Christopher Golden in suing both OpenAI and Meta over similar claims.
The proliferation of cases reflects a broader shift in how creators and platforms view consent over online content. As researcher Shayne Longpre told the Times, “We’re seeing a rapid decline in consent to use data across the web that will have ramifications not just for AI companies, but for researchers, academics, and noncommercial entities.”
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanction motion. The court’s ruling could shape the scope of discovery in a case that already involves the compelled production of more than 20 million user conversations.
FAQ
When did the news outlets ask for sanctions against OpenAI?
A coalition led by the New York Times filed the sanction motion on July 9, 2026.
When did the New York Times originally sue OpenAI?
The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December 2023, alleging OpenAI trained its generative models on millions of Times articles without permission.
What evidence did the publishers say OpenAI withheld?
According to the Thursday filing reviewed by TechCrunch, OpenAI allegedly failed to preserve training data and ChatGPT output logs and “intentionally hid its discovery capabilities,” despite earlier court orders requiring preservation and the production of 20 million anonymized chat logs.