News Outlets Seek Sanctions Against OpenAI in Copyright Dispute
A coalition of news organizations, including the New York Times, asked a federal judge on July 9, 2026 to sanction OpenAI over allegations that the company withheld evidence in a copyright dispute that has been litigating since December 2023. Court filings reviewed by TechCrunch describe accusations that OpenAI failed to preserve training data and output logs that could reveal how ChatGPT reproduces copyrighted journalism.
What did the news outlets accuse OpenAI of withholding?
The newspapers claim OpenAI misled the court about its ability to search its own training corpus and customer chat logs. According to the filing, OpenAI “intentionally hid its discovery capabilities” for two years, a phrase that signals the latest escalation in the consolidated suit, which originally targeted OpenAI and its backer Microsoft.
The filing also requests that the court find that ChatGPT outputs show “substantial and systematic grounding on and regurgitation” of the outlets’ reporting, and that OpenAI be ordered to pay attorneys’ fees.
Where did the lawsuit begin?
The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December 2023, alleging that the company infringed copyright by training generative AI models on millions of NYT articles without permission. Similar complaints from other news organizations were later consolidated into the same action. At the core of the dispute is whether training AI systems on copyrighted material constitutes fair use.
The legal picture remains mixed. In June 2025, a federal judge ruled in a related case that Anthropic’s training on lawfully acquired books constituted fair use. In October 2025, a separate 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.
What earlier preservation and production orders are in place?
The sanction request follows earlier court orders that required OpenAI to preserve all ChatGPT conversations, including deleted ones, and to hand over 20 million anonymized chat logs to the plaintiffs. The July filing argues that OpenAI’s compliance with those orders was undermined by its alleged failure to disclose what its systems could actually retrieve.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanction motion.
How does OpenAI defend its training practices?
Throughout the litigation, OpenAI has maintained that training on publicly available material is protected under fair use and that ChatGPT rarely regurgitates source articles verbatim. The company’s position is that its models learn general patterns rather than storing specific copies.
Critics of that position describe the practice in sharper terms, calling it “the mass stealing of content to build an AI product, then lawyering up.” The disagreement over what constitutes fair use in the AI era continues to play out across multiple courtrooms.
How does this case fit into the broader copyright landscape?
The Times lawsuit is one of dozens of copyright actions facing 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 crisis in digital copyright as AI companies ingest large volumes of online content without explicit licenses. Researchers, academics, and noncommercial entities are also affected by what observers describe as a rapid decline in consent to use data across the web.
What happens next in the case?
The outcome of the sanction request could shape the scope of discovery in a case that already involves the compelled production of more than 20 million user conversations. A finding against OpenAI would strengthen the outlets’ position heading toward trial, while a denial would leave the parties to continue litigating the underlying fair use questions.
FAQ
Who filed the request to sanction OpenAI?
A coalition of news organizations, including the New York Times, asked the federal judge to sanction OpenAI on July 9, 2026, alleging the company withheld evidence in a copyright case originally filed in December 2023.
What specific evidence do the outlets say OpenAI withheld?
The filing alleges OpenAI “intentionally hid its discovery capabilities” for two years, failing to disclose what its systems could actually retrieve from its training corpus and from preserved ChatGPT chat logs.
What earlier court orders does the sanction request relate to?
Earlier orders required OpenAI to preserve all ChatGPT conversations, including deleted ones, and to produce 20 million anonymized chat logs to the plaintiffs; the July filing argues those obligations were undermined by the alleged nondisclosure.