Britannica Takes Legal Action Against OpenAI for Alleged Copyright Violations in AI Training

Encyclopedia Britannica has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI. The company accused the developer of ChatGPT of copyright infringement and unauthorized use of trademarks. This was reported by Reuters.

What's Known

The lawsuit states that OpenAI used the encyclopedia's materials during the training of its artificial intelligence models. According to Britannica, its "copyright-protected content was used on a large scale." The company also claims that ChatGPT's responses sometimes contain full or partial fragments of text from the encyclopedia's articles.

The lawsuit also concerns possible trademark violations. Britannica claims that ChatGPT sometimes creates fictional or inaccurate content and attributes it to the encyclopedia. The document states that such cases can mislead users about the source of information.

Britannica did not specify the amount of financial demands. At the same time, the company asks the court to prohibit OpenAI from using its materials and to prevent a recurrence of such actions in the future.

According to Engadget, a spokesperson for OpenAI stated that ChatGPT helps boost creativity, supports scientific research, and promotes innovation. According to him, the company's models are trained on publicly available data and operate under the principle of fair use.

In September 2025, Britannica, which also owns the Merriam-Webster dictionary, filed a lawsuit against Perplexity with similar claims. Separately, OpenAI continues its legal dispute with The New York Times, which also claimed copyright infringement.

Source: Reuters