News Corp countersues Brave for allegedly 'scraping' articles for AI

News Corp has filed a countersuit against search engine Brave Software, alleging "flagrant theft" of its copyrighted articles from publications like The Wall Street Journal and New York Post. News Corp claims Brave has been "covertly scraping" and reselling this content to artificial intelligence companies without authorization.

The legal battle began last year when Brave preemptively sued News Corp, seeking a court declaration that its methods of bundling and licensing content for AI development were legal. This action followed a cease-and-desist letter from News Corp, which is led by Rupert Murdoch's family.

In its Tuesday filing in Oakland, California federal court, News Corp asserted that Brave's actions "fall nowhere near the bounds" of legally permissible conduct like fair use. The media giant argues that Brave profits from copying and selling content, which reduces the incentive for AI companies to negotiate licenses directly with publishers.

“

The more content Brave copies and sells, the more revenue it generates, and the less incentive AI companies have to negotiate licenses with the publishers who produced the content. Brave profits while publishers are cut out.

News Corp is seeking an injunction and unspecified monetary damages, with potential damages reaching up to $150,000 per infringement. Brave and its legal representatives have not yet responded to requests for comment.

This dispute is part of a larger wave of litigation between publishers and technology firms over the use of copyrighted material to train AI models. Brave previously accused News Corp of attempting to disrupt advancements in generative AI, which many consider a pivotal innovation of the century. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson criticized Brave's actions as a "blatant disregard" for the impact on journalism, calling for an end to "tacky tech trafficking" to ensure a sustainable future for the industry.

“

This era of tacky tech trafficking must come to an end if journalism is to have a sustainable future.