Introduction
The legal landscape is witnessing a significant case as Chief Judge Colm Connolly takes on a lawsuit in the District of Delaware involving Ziff Davis and OpenAI Inc. This case highlights the ongoing conflict between content providers and AI companies [6], focusing on allegations of copyright infringement and other unlawful activities by OpenAI related to its AI systems.
Description
Chief Judge Colm Connolly has been assigned a new lawsuit in the District of Delaware involving Ziff Davis and OpenAI Inc [3], a Delaware corporation accused of engaging in infringing and unlawful activities related to its AI systems [4]. The lawsuit [1] [2] [3] [5] [6] [7], initiated by Ziff Davis Inc, Ziff Davis LLC [1] [2] [3] [5] [6] [7], IGN Entertainment Inc [1] [2] [7], and Everyday Health Media LLC [1] [2], alleges multiple violations [2], including significant copyright infringements [2] [6], breaches of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) [2] [6], unjust enrichment [2] [6], and trademark dilution [2] [6]. The complaint asserts that OpenAI systematically copied content from Ziff Davis’s websites without permission [6], circumvented technical protections such as robots.txt directives, and removed key copyright management information (CMI) to create training datasets for products like ChatGPT.
Ziff Davis [1] [2] [3] [5] [6] [7], which operates over 45 digital brands including IGN, Mashable [6], and CNET [6], publishes nearly two million articles annually [1] [6], including thousands of product reviews [1]. The lawsuit claims that OpenAI’s GPTBot web crawler disregarded robots.txt files that prohibit content scraping [6], with increased crawler activity noted after Ziff Davis issued a cease-and-desist letter in May 2024 [6]. It alleges that OpenAI employed specialized software to strip copyright information from articles [6], citing the public “WebText” dataset as containing unattributed Ziff Davis content [6]. Analysis indicates that Ziff Davis material appears millions of times in the training data [6], significantly exceeding its normal web presence [6]. Ziff Davis contends that OpenAI has been aware of these infringement claims since early 2024 [7], following a notification from the publisher regarding the unauthorized use of its content [7].
Tests reportedly conducted by Ziff Davis demonstrate that OpenAI’s models can reproduce exact passages from its articles [6], even in offline scenarios [6], indicating direct copying of training data [6]. When internet access is enabled [6], the models are said to actively retrieve Ziff Davis content [6]. The lawsuit also highlights that OpenAI’s products can misrepresent Ziff Davis material by generating inaccurate summaries [6], misquoting sources [6], creating fictitious article links [6], or “hallucinating” facts attributed to Ziff Davis publications [6]. These practices are argued to dilute the brand and harm Ziff Davis’s reputation as a reliable information source [6], undermining its ability to generate revenue through advertising and product sales [5].
Ziff Davis characterizes AI-generated content as a fundamental threat to its business [6], asserting that it competes directly with original articles and diverts user traffic [6], thereby undermining advertising and commission-based revenue streams [6]. The company contends that OpenAI profits from Ziff Davis’s investments and labor without compensation [6], while simultaneously entering licensing agreements with other publishers [6]. OpenAI LLC [2] [4], formed in September 2020 [4], is responsible for monetizing OpenAI’s products and is believed to have participated in the alleged unlawful conduct [4]. OpenAI OpCo LLC [4], which oversees the commercialization of OpenAI’s offerings [4], including large language models (LLMs) and APIs [4], is also implicated in the alleged activities [4].
The lawsuit [1] [2] [3] [5] [6] [7], officially filed on April 24, 2025 [2], seeks damages [6], attorneys’ fees [6], and a permanent injunction [6], including the destruction of all OpenAI training datasets and AI models containing or derived from Ziff Davis’s copyrighted works [6]. Ziff Davis claims that OpenAI rejected prior attempts to negotiate a licensing agreement before the lawsuit [6], which were aimed at preempting potential litigation over content use in AI training [6].
It remains uncertain whether this case will be transferred to Judge Stein [3], who is currently presiding over multiple copyright suits against OpenAI in the MDL court [3]. The case illustrates the growing tension between content providers and AI companies [6], with OpenAI currently facing over 15 similar disputes [6], including a pivotal case involving The New York Times concerning the use of copyrighted text in AI training.
Conclusion
This lawsuit underscores the escalating tensions between traditional content providers and emerging AI technologies. The outcome could have far-reaching implications for how AI companies utilize copyrighted material, potentially reshaping the boundaries of intellectual property rights in the digital age. As OpenAI faces numerous similar legal challenges, the resolution of this case may set a precedent for future interactions between AI developers and content creators.
References
[1] https://www.verdict.co.uk/ziff-copyright-lawsuit-openai/
[2] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ziff-davis-sues-openai-copyright-infringement-court-omar-elmor–emczf
[3] https://chatgptiseatingtheworld.com/2025/05/06/chief-judge-colm-connolly-assigned-ziff-davis-v-openai-in-delware/
[4] https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/DelawareDistrictCourt/1–25-cv-00501/ZiffDavisInc.etalv.OpenAIInc.et_al/1/
[5] https://news.law/digital-media-giant-ziff-davis-files-lawsuit-against-openai-for-copyright-infringement/
[6] https://the-decoder.com/ziff-davis-pushes-to-erase-chatgpt-models-trained-on-its-articles-as-ai-media-tensions-rise/
[7] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/openai-hit-with-copyright-infringement-suit-from-ziff-davis
