Replies to post #534180 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

Look who's suing. My money is on Perplexity.

Status of lawsuit against perplexity?

The lawsuit most prominently affecting Perplexity as of July 2025 is an ongoing case filed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. (publisher of The Wall Street Journal), NYP Holdings, Inc. (publisher of the New York Post), and their parent company, News Corporation, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Status (as of July 15, 2025): The court is currently considering Perplexity's motion to dismiss the lawsuit or, alternatively, transfer venue to the Northern District of California. No final decision or judgment has been issued, and the matter remains in pretrial proceedings.

Core allegations: The plaintiffs accuse Perplexity of “massive illegal copying” by allegedly scraping and reproducing their copyrighted content, allowing users to bypass publisher websites and advertising infrastructure. The lawsuit claims this resulted in lost revenue and licensing opportunities for the publishers. They also allege trademark violations and that Perplexity’s system sometimes hallucinates or fabricates news stories and wrongly attributes them to reputable outlets.

Claimed damages: The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial, an injunction to stop Perplexity from using their content, and potential destruction of any Perplexity database built using their articles.

Perplexity's response: While Perplexity has implemented a revenue-sharing program and claims it is open to dialogue, the plaintiffs argue these steps are inadequate. Perplexity has also defended itself by challenging interpretations of copyright law and denying wrongdoing.

Other legal challenges:

BBC Threat (June 2025): The BBC has accused Perplexity of training its AI model on BBC content without permission and has threatened legal action unless Perplexity ceases use and provides financial compensation. This dispute had not yet resulted in a filed lawsuit as of late June 2025.

Other legal actions: Separate intellectual property and trademark disputes involving Perplexity and other software companies are also active in U.S. federal courts.

Bottom line: The primary lawsuit against Perplexity by Dow Jones, NYP Holdings, and News Corp is in the pretrial stage, awaiting the judge's ruling on Perplexity’s motion to dismiss or transfer the case. No final resolution has been reached, and further proceedings are expected.