Microsoft Files Motion to Dismiss Parts of Lawsuit Brought by The New York Times Company
In a legal battle that pits media giant The New York Times Company against tech powerhouse Microsoft, the latest development has seen Microsoft filing a motion in federal court to dismiss parts of the lawsuit brought by The Times.
The lawsuit, filed by The Times on Dec. 27, accuses Microsoft and its partner OpenAI of infringing on its copyrights by using its articles to train A.I. technologies like the online chatbot ChatGPT. The Times argues that chatbots like ChatGPT compete with the news outlet as a source of reliable information.
In response, Microsoft filed a motion in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, arguing that the large language models (L.L.M.s) used to drive chatbots did not supplant the market for news articles and other materials they were trained on. The tech giant compared L.L.M.s to videocassette recorders, stating that both are allowed under the law.
This legal battle harkens back to the late 1970s when movie studios sued Sony over its Betamax VCR, a case in which the courts ultimately found that making copies for personal viewing was fair use under the law.
Microsoft’s motion echoes a similar argument made by OpenAI last week, stating that three parts of the suit should be dismissed because The Times did not show actual harm. The Times had argued that it loses revenue when readers use Microsoft’s chatbot to research recommendations from Wirecutter, a review site owned by The Times.
The lawsuit marks The Times as the first major American media company to sue Microsoft and OpenAI over copyright issues related to its written works. This legal battle highlights the ongoing debate surrounding the use of copyrighted material to train generative A.I. technologies.
As the legal battle unfolds, it remains to be seen how the courts will navigate the complex intersection of copyright law and transformative technologies like chatbots. Both Microsoft and The New York Times Company have yet to provide immediate comment on the matter.
