Why The New York Times' lawyers are inspecting OpenAI's code in a secretive room; Business Insider, October 10, 2024

Jacob Shamsian  , Business Insider; Why The New York Times' lawyers are inspecting OpenAI's code in a secretive room

"OpenAI is worth $157 billion largely because of the success of ChatGPT. But to build the chatbot, the company trained its models on vast quantities of text it didn't pay a penny for.

That text includes stories from The New York Times, articles from other publications, and an untold number of copyrighted books.

The examination of the code for ChatGPT, as well as for Microsoft's artificial intelligence models built using OpenAI's technology, is crucial for the copyright infringement lawsuits against the two companies.

Publishers and artists have filed about two dozen major copyright lawsuits against generative AI companies. They are out for blood, demanding a slice of the economic pie that made OpenAI the dominant player in the industry and which pushed Microsoft's valuation beyond $3 trillion. Judges deciding those cases may carve out the legal parameters for how large language models are trained in the US."

ChatGPT's Owner Asks For Proof That 'New York Times' Articles Are Original. Here's the Media Company's Response.; Entrepreneur, July 5, 2024

SHERIN SHIBU EDITED BY JESSICA THOMAS , Entrepreneur; ChatGPT's Owner Asks For Proof That 'New York Times' Articles Are Original. Here's the Media Company's Response.

"The New York Times sued OpenAI in December for copyright infringement, alleging that the AI giant used millions of its articles to train ChatGPT. Now OpenAI is asking for proof that NYT articles are actually original — and the NYT is calling the request "irrelevant, improper, and harassing."

OpenAI lawyers filed the request in New York district court on Monday. The ChatGPT-maker asked that the Times bring forth documents proving which portions of the millions of articles in question in the case "are original to the Times and what are not...

The NYT submitted a filing on Wednesday asserting that OpenAI's request "serves no purpose other than harassment and retaliation for The Times's decision to file this lawsuit.""

OpenAI Asks to Merge New York Times, Daily News Copyright Suits; Bloomberg Law, June 14, 2024

Aruni Soni , Bloomberg Law; OpenAI Asks to Merge New York Times, Daily News Copyright Suits

"OpenAI Inc. asked a federal court to combine the “functionally identical” copyright lawsuits filed against it by The New York Times Co. and The Daily News LP alleging it used their content to create artificial intelligence services."

C-e-a-s-e and desist: 'The New York Times' goes after Wordle spinoffs; NPR, March 13, 2024

Joe Hernandez , NPR; C-e-a-s-e and desist: 'The New York Times' goes after Wordle spinoffs

"The New York Times has sent takedown notices to "hundreds" of coders who've made clones of the popular word game, Wordle.

Wordle is a hit online sensation where players have to guess a five-letter word in six tries. Since the newspaper bought it in 2022 from creator Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle, the word game has spawned a litany of spinoffs, from the more complex Quordle to the irreverent Sweardle.

Now, the Times is accusing some Wordle clone creators of copyright infringement violations and asking that their code be removed from the website GitHub, a platform that lets developers publicly share their code. The news was first reported last week by 404 Media."

The New York Times’ AI copyright lawsuit shows that forgiveness might not be better than permission; The Conversation, February 13, 2024

Peter Vaughan, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, The Conversation; ; The New York Times’ AI copyright lawsuit shows that forgiveness might not be better than permission

"The lawsuit also presents a novel argument – not advanced by other, similar cases – that’s related to something called “hallucinations”, where AI systems generate false or misleading information but present it as fact. This argument could in fact be one of the most potent in the case.

The NYT case in particular raises three interesting takes on the usual approach. First, that due to their reputation for trustworthy news and information, NYT content has enhanced value and desirability as training data for use in AI. 

Second, that due to its paywall, the reproduction of articles on request is commercially damaging. Third, that ChatGPT “hallucinations” are causing reputational damage to the New York Times through, effectively, false attribution. 

This is not just another generative AI copyright dispute. The first argument presented by the NYT is that the training data used by OpenAI is protected by copyright, and so they claim the training phase of ChatGPT infringed copyright. We have seen this type of argument run before in other disputes."

Complaint: New York Times v. Microsoft & OpenAI, December 2023

 Complaint:

THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY Plaintiff,

v.

MICROSOFT CORPORATION, OPENAI, INC., OPENAI LP, OPENAI GP, LLC, OPENAI, LLC, OPENAI OPCO LLC, OPENAI GLOBAL LLC, OAI CORPORATION, LLC, and OPENAI HOLDINGS, LLC,

Defendants

The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work; The New York Times, December 27, 2023

 Michael M. Grynbaum and Ryan Mac, The New York Times; The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work

"The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement on Wednesday, opening a new front in the increasingly intense legal battle over the unauthorized use of published work to train artificial intelligence technologies.

The Times is the first major American media organization to sue the companies, the creators of ChatGPT and other popular A.I. platforms, over copyright issues associated with its written works. The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, contends that millions of articles published by The Times were used to train automated chatbots that now compete with the news outlet as a source of reliable information.

The suit does not include an exact monetary demand. But it says the defendants should be held responsible for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” related to the “unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.” It also calls for the companies to destroy any chatbot models and training data that use copyrighted material from The Times."

New York Times considers legal action against OpenAI as copyright tensions swirl; NPR, August 16, 2023

Bobby Allyn , NPR; New York Times considers legal action against OpenAI as copyright tensions swirl

"The New York Times and OpenAI could end up in court. 

Lawyers for the newspaper are exploring whether to sue OpenAI to protect the intellectual property rights associated with its reporting, according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions. 

For weeks, The Times and the maker of ChatGPT have been locked in tense negotiations over reaching a licensing deal in which OpenAI would pay The Times for incorporating its stories in the tech company's AI tools, but the discussions have become so contentious that the paper is now considering legal action."

New York Times Says Fair Use Of 300 Words Will Run You About $1800; New York Times, 6/10/16

Tim Cushing, TechDirt; New York Times Says Fair Use Of 300 Words Will Run You About $1800:

"Fair use is apparently the last refuge of a scofflaw. Following on the heels of a Sony rep's assertion that people could avail themselves of fair use for the right price, here comes the New York Times implying fair use not only does not exist, but that it runs more than $6/word.

Obtaining formal permission to use three quotations from New York Times articles in a book ultimately cost two professors $1,884. They’re outraged, and have taken to Kickstarter — in part to recoup the charges, but primarily, they say, to “protest the Times’ and publishers’ lack of respect for Fair Use.”

These professors used quotes from other sources in their book about press coverage of health issues, but only the Gray Lady stood there with her hand out, expecting nearly $2,000 in exchange for three quotes totalling less than 300 words.

The professors paid, but the New York Times "policy" just ensures it will be avoided by others looking to source quotes for their publications. The high rate it charges (which it claims is a "20% discount") for fair use of its work will be viewed by others as proxy censorship. And when censorship of this sort rears its head, most people just route around it. Other sources will be sought and the New York Times won't be padding its bottom line with ridiculous fees for de minimis use of its articles.

The authors' Kickstarter isn't so much to pay off the Times, but more to raise awareness of the publication's unwillingness to respect fair use."

Seeking Students’ Short ‘Hamlet’ Videos; New York Times, 10/29/13

New York Times; Seeking Students’ Short ‘Hamlet’ Videos: "“Brevity is the soul of wit,” declares Polonius in William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” And perhaps short videos of lines from one of the Bard’s most-loved plays will expose the souls of their performers, too. So The New York Times invites student actors and actresses to submit their performances of lines from “Hamlet” using Instagram. The Times’s critics have been cataloging the recent bounty of professional performances of Shakespeare’s plays. And with several stagings of “Hamlet” opening soon, we’d like to see how high school and college students interpret key lines from the play using the cameras and apps on the smartphones they might be carrying... The deadline to submit a video link is Dec. 1, [sic???] 2103. The best videos will be featured on nytimes.com later in December... By submitting to us, you are promising that the content is original, doesn’t plagiarize from anyone or infringe a copyright or trademark, doesn’t violate anybody’s rights and isn’t libelous or otherwise unlawful or misleading. You are agreeing that we can use your submission in all manner and media of The New York Times and that we shall have the right to authorize third parties to do so. And you agree to the rules of our Member Agreement, found online at our website."

[Podcast] Is Hyperlocal the Future of News?; NPR's On the Media, 7/16/10

[Podcast] NPR's On the Media; Is Hyperlocal the Future of News?:

"One school of thought says that news organizations are best equipped to cover small neighborhoods, so if you really want to attract readers go local. Last year, the New York Times began its own trial with so-called hyperlocal reporting, starting cautiously in just a handful of neighborhoods in the metro area. Deputy Metro editor Mary Ann Giordano talks about the experiment."

http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/07/16/05

New York Times Ready to Charge Online Readers; New York Magazine, 1/17/10

Gabriel Sherman, New York Magazine; New York Times Ready to Charge Online:

"New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. appears close to announcing that the paper will begin charging for access to its website, according to people familiar with internal deliberations. After a year of sometimes fraught debate inside the paper, the choice for some time has been between a Wall Street Journal-type pay wall and the metered system adopted by the Financial Times, in which readers can sample a certain number of free articles before being asked to subscribe. The Times seems to have settled on the metered system.

One personal friend of Sulzberger said a final decision could come within days, and a senior newsroom source agreed, adding that the plan could be announced in a matter of weeks...

The Times has considered three types of pay strategies..."

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/01/new_york_times_set_to_mimic_ws.html#ixzz0ctrjA8pS:

News Corp 'in talks on web news consortium'; Guardina, 8/21/09

Jason Deans via Guardian; News Corp 'in talks on web news consortium':

"News Corporation executives have met counterparts from rival newspapers including the New York Times and Washington Post to discuss forming a consortium to charge for online news content, according to a US report today.

Jonathan Miller, News Corp's chief digital officer, is believed to have talked to executives from the Times and Post, along with other major US newspaper publishers including Hearst and Tribune, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The meetings, held in recent weeks, were to discuss forming a consortium that would charge for news content on the web and mobile devices, reported the LA Times, which is published by Tribune.

Earlier this month the News Corp chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, revealed that the company planned to start charging for content on all its news websites in the US, UK and elsewhere in the next year.

"Quality journalism is not cheap," said Murdoch. "The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites."

Murdoch added that he had completed a review of the possibility of charging and that he was willing to take the risk of leading the industry towards a pay-per-view model: "I believe that if we're successful, we'll be followed fast by other media."...

He accepted that there could be a need for furious litigation to prevent stories and photographs being copied elsewhere: "We'll be asserting our copyright at every point."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/21/news-corp-online-news-consortium

Op-Ed: Google's Big Plan for Books; New York Times, 7/29/09

Op-Ed: Google's Big Plan for Books; New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/opinion/29wed3.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Can links kill?, Guardian, 12/30/08

The Guardian: Can links kill?, Linking to online content is the essence of the web. But for newspapers, when does it cross the line to stealing content?:

"The future of online journalism may depend on the outcome of a legal battle between two financially ailing media giants [The New York Times Company and GateHouse Media]...

GateHouse has sued the Times Company for copyright infringement and related charges, claiming that the Your Town sites are an attempt to steal the content of GateHouse's Wicked Local websites for the Times's own commercial gain.

It's easy to take the Times's side in this battle. Linking, after all, is the essence of the web. Some of the smartest people in media are pushing news executives to look beyond their own walls and link to outside content, whether through blogging or something more comprehensive...

But wait. There's another side here, and it deserves to be carefully pondered rather than mockingly dismissed.

Seen from GateHouse's point of view, a Your Town site – for instance this one covering the town of Needham – links not just to a few stories, but scoops up every item of interest from GateHouse's Needham Times, making it unnecessary for anyone to visit the Wicked Local Needham homepage...

GateHouse managers have a right to complain, and to take retaliatory action. (In its legal complaint (pdf), the company says it failed in an attempt to make it technologically impossible for the Globe to link to its stories. But there are other steps it could consider.)...

Legitimate linking practices could come under unwarranted legal scrutiny as well...

The case – GateHouse Media v New York Times Company – is scheduled to go to trial on January 5 in US District Court. (Judge William Young has already rejected GateHouse's request for a temporary restraining order.)"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/dec/30/new-york-times-gatehouse-lawsuit

Aggregation aggravation: NYTCo hit with copyright suit over hyperlocal content, The Guardian, 12/23/08

Via The Guardian: Aggregation aggravation: NYTCo hit with copyright suit over hyperlocal content:

"Aggravation over aggregation: It's been a while since sites threatened legal action related to aggregated content. The GateHouse-NYTCo suit comes a few days after Huffington Post's Chicago-based site was called on the carpet of using parts of Chicago Reader's concert reviews without permission. Also, the suit is being brought at a time when local and regional papers are feeling crushed by the economy and the general state of the newspaper business. NYTCo rep Catherine Mathis tells Boston.com that the its hyperlocal sites aren't doing anything different from what blogs have been doing all along. Mathis: "Far from being illegal or improper, this practice of linking to sites is common and is familiar to anyone who has searched the web.""

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2008/dec/23/pressandpublishing-citizenmedia

GateHouse Media sues NY Times Co. over copyright, International Herald Tribune, 12/23/08

Via International Herald Tribune: GateHouse Media sues NY Times Co. over copyright:

"Dan Kennedy, an assistant journalism professor at Northeastern University who also runs the Media Nation blog that is tracking the lawsuit, said the case could have national implications because it could settle questions on how much content one news organization can use from another.

"What the Globe is doing is what everybody says newspapers should be doing," said Kennedy, referring to aggregating content like Google News.

Kennedy, however, said the Boston.com model is different since it puts up advertising, unlike Google News.

GateHouse, he said, can make an argument that Boston.com is profiting from GateHouse journalism.

"It will be interesting to see the outcome," Kennedy said. "This is one of the most important stories about the newspaper business right now."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/23/business/NA-US-GateHouse-Times-Lawsuit.php