New turn in OpenAI copyright lawsuit as judge allows 56 briefs

The lawsuits come from authors and news firms. They tell that OpenAI and Microsoft copied their works to train AI. Two companies tell that this is fair use.

On 6 November 2026, US District Judge Sidney Stein in Manhattan allowed 56 friend of the court briefs in the lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft. In September, the parties wanted a ruling without a trial on if training on copyrighted works is fair use. The ruling could change licenses and the legal risk of the tech industry.

How it works

A friend of the court brief is a paper from a group that is not a party. The group gives its view to the judge. OpenAI and Microsoft tell that training is fair use, because the models learn from works and do not reproduce them. The publishers tell that it is unlicensed copying that makes products that compete.

The numbers

The 56 briefs hold 798 citations of lawsuits. Briefs for the plaintiffs came from news, book, music and actor groups. Briefs for OpenAI came from digital rights groups and libraries and AI firms such as Midjourney and Runway.

What is not known

The judge gave no ruling at this time. A citation does not show that a brief relies on the lawsuit it names. Three Democrats in the US Congress tell that the statement of the US Justice Department for OpenAI must have small weight or none.

Insight: The fair use ruling will cover more than OpenAI

Midjourney, Runway and Khosla Ventures filed briefs for OpenAI. They face the same legal issue. In October 2026, eight US states also started lawsuits against OpenAI about the safety of children. This reads as AI firms that work together for one rule on fair use, while OpenAI has more lawsuits. A ruling for the publishers could make all AI firms get licenses for training data.