Legal Action Against OpenAI By Canadian News Companies Over Alleged Copyright Breaches

Five Canadian news media companies have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, alleging the company repeatedly violates copyright and online terms of use.

The plaintiffs—Torstar, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press, and CBC/Radio-Canada—claim OpenAI has been scraping vast amounts of content to train its AI systems without seeking permission or compensating content owners. In a joint statement, they emphasized: "Journalism serves the public interest. OpenAI’s exploitation of journalism for commercial purposes without authorization is unlawful."

This lawsuit is part of a broader wave of legal challenges targeting OpenAI and other tech firms by writers, artists, and copyright holders who argue their works are being used without consent to develop generative AI systems. OpenAI's primary backer is Microsoft.

The legal filing, an 84-page statement of claim submitted to Ontario’s superior court, demands damages and a permanent injunction barring OpenAI from using the plaintiffs' material without consent. The document accuses OpenAI of deliberately misappropriating intellectual property for commercial gain, stating the news companies have not received any form of compensation.

In response, OpenAI defended its practices, asserting that its models are trained on publicly available data in compliance with fair use and international copyright principles. "We work closely with news publishers, offering tools for attribution, links to their content, and easy opt-out options," a spokesperson said via email.

The Canadian lawsuit does not name Microsoft, but earlier this month, Elon Musk expanded his legal action against OpenAI to include Microsoft, accusing both companies of attempting to monopolize the generative AI market and stifle competition.

Separately, on November 7, a federal judge in New York dismissed a similar lawsuit against OpenAI brought by news outlets Raw Story and AlterNet, which claimed unauthorized use of their articles.

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