Canadian news publishers sue Anthropic for alleged copyright infringement

A coalition of Canadian news publishers is suing the AI company Anthropic in an Ontario court for alleged copyright infringement.

Postmedia, Torstar, The Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press say Anthropic used their content without permission to develop its large language AI model, Claude.

"Anthropic has capitalized on the commercial success of its AI models, building an expansive suite of services, and raised significant capital, all without obtaining a valid licence from any of the News Media Companies," says the statement of claim.

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The lawsuit was filed on Oct. 6 and was first reported by the news site Cartt.ca.

Anthropic has not responded to a request for comment.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

What does the lawsuit allege?

The statement of claim says Anthropic breached the news media websites’ terms of service and circumvented technological protection measures they put in place to restrict copying of their content.

"To obtain content for ingestion into its models and services, Anthropic deliberately 'scrapes' (i.e. accesses and copies) enormous amounts of text data from the internet and from the Plaintiffs’ Websites," the claim says.

The news outlets say Anthropic then uses that content, without authorization or consent, to develop its AI models.

It says Anthropic also scrapes content on an ongoing basis in response to user prompts.

"In doing so, Anthropic has been substantially and unjustly enriched to the detriment of the News Media Companies," the statement of claim says.

"Notwithstanding concerns raised by several content creators across various industries, including through numerous other lawsuits and public criticism, Anthropic has done nothing to curtail its unlawful behaviour," the statement of claim says.

Who are the publishers involved?

The plaintiffs are Postmedia, Torstar, The Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press.

The claim says the news outlets "are responsible for generating a significant portion of Canada’s journalistic content, from daily print broadsheets to round-the-clock digital news coverage," and collectively have millions of readers.

The same companies also launched, alongside CBC/Radio-Canada, a lawsuit against OpenAI in 2024.

That case has yet to be settled.

What is the broader context for this lawsuit?

News publishers have been pushing the federal government to take a stand on how AI systems use copyrighted content after the government’s national AI strategy failed to address the issue.

News publishers abroad have also sued tech companies for using their articles to train AI systems.

The New York Times sued OpenAI for its use of the paper's copyrighted material, and the Justice Department sided with the tech company last month.

In a separate case, SOCAN is suing AI music platform Suno over alleged unauthorized sampling.

What are the potential implications?

The lawsuit highlights concerns over the infringement of intellectual property rights as AI technologies continue to evolve.

This case may set a precedent for how AI companies can use copyrighted content, potentially impacting legal standards and protections for creators.

If successful, the lawsuit might lead to stricter regulations on how AI models can use copyrighted material, impacting AI companies' operations and development processes.

The case emphasizes the need for clear agreements and licensing when using third-party content, especially in the realm of AI technologies.

With files from The Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail and CBC News