Generative AI Lawsuits Timeline: Legal Cases vs. OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, Google, Nvidia, Perplexity, Salesforce, Apple and More
January 21, 2026 by Joe Panettieri
Here are additional lawsuit updates.
AI Lawsuits: March 2025 Updates
March 27 - New York Times vs OpenAI Lawsuit: OpenAI's motion to dismiss a copyright infringement suit by The New York Times was denied by a federal judge, SeekingAlpha reported.
March 26 - Court Ruling Favors Anthropic: A U.S. court denied an injunction that Universal Music Group and other record labels had sought to prevent Anthropic from using copyrighted lyrics to train its AI models, Morningstar and Dow Jones reported.
March 26 - Lawsuit vs Anthropic: A judge has rejected a bid by music publishing companies to block Anthropic from using copyrighted lyrics to train its AI model Claude. The judge said the preliminary injunction request was too broad, and publishers Concord Music and Universal Music failed to show that Anthropic's AI training caused irreparable harm, SeekingAlpha reported.
March 25 - Meta' Legal Defense: Facebook parent Meta Platforms urged a federal judge to rule its use of protected works to train its AI model is “fair use” under the Copyright Act, and thus didn’t infringe the rights of the authors suing the company, Bloomberg Law reported.
March 21, 2025 - Lawsuit vs Apple: A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of disgruntled consumers claims that Apple misled buyers with promises of advanced AI features for Siri that never materialized, TechRepublic reported.
March 21, 2025 - Complaint vs OpenAI: A Norwegian man has filed a complaint after ChatGPT falsely told him he had killed two of his sons and been jailed for 21 years, BBC reported.
March 17 - Media vs Google and OpenAI A Chicago Tribune editorial alleged that OpenAI and Google are using national security claims to steal copyrighted content from news organizations.
March 17 - Hollywood vs Google and OpenAI: Hundreds of entertainment industry luminaries -- including Paul McCartney and Ron Howard, among others -- have signed an open letter to the White House, complaining that OpenAI and Google are threatening content-focused copyright laws, Animation Magazine reported.
March 17 - Musk Lawsuit vs. OpenAI: Musk and OpenAI have agreed to fast-track a trial over OpenAI's for-profit shift, Reuters reported.
March 13 - OpenAI and AI Training: OpenAI believes the AI race “over” if training on copyrighted works isn’t fair use, Ars Technica reported.
March 12 - Lawsuit vs Meta: French publishers and authors are taking Meta to court, accusing Facebook's parent of using their works without permission to train its AI model, the Associated Press reported.
March 10 - Lawsuit vs Meta: A judge has allowed an AI copyright lawsuit against Meta to proceed, PC Mag reported.. The lawsuit, filed in July 2023, includes such plaintiffs as authors Richard Kadrey and Christopher Golden and comedian Sarah Silverman.
March 6 - Anthropic Court Case: Anthropic and music publishers disagree on the scope of discovery in a lawsuit against Anthropic, Bloomberg Law reported.
AI Lawsuits: February 2025 Updates
February 25 - Lawsuit vs. Google:Chegg has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Google – alleging that Google's AI-generated summaries in search engine results has crushed its website traffic and revenue, The New York Post reported.
February 20 - Lawsuit Ruling vs. OpenAI: OpenAI must face part of an Intercept lawsuit, though a judge narrowed the case and dismissed The Intercept's claims against Microsoft, Reuters reported.
February 14 - OpenAI Partnership: OpenAI and Guardian Media Group inked a partnership that allow ChatGPT’s global users to gain summaries of the Guardian’s editorial content. Financial terms of the delationship were not disclosed.
February 13 - Lawsuit vs. Cohere: The Atlantic, Politico, Vox and other major publishers are suing AI startup Cohere for copyright and trademark infringement, The Wall Street Journal reported.
February 11 - Ruling Favors Thomson Reuters: A U.S. District Court of Delaware judge issued a partial summary judgment in favor of Thomson Reuters in its copyright infringement lawsuit against Ross Intelligence, a legal AI startup, The Verge reported. The lawsuit, filed in 2020, is one of the first cases that deals with the legality of AI tools and how they are trained, often using copyrighted data scraped from somewhere else without license or permission, the report noted.
February 10 - Elon Musk vs. Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman rejected Musk's unsolicited bid to buy OpenAI. The back-and-forth comes as Musk tries to stop OpenAI's shift to a for-profit business model. Several of Musk's businesses, particularly xAI, compete with OpenAI and its ChatGPT software.
February 4 - Elon Musk vs. OpenAI: U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is skeptical about Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, but she allowed the case to proceed while also expressing concerns about the OpenAI-Microsoft relationship, The Associated Press reported.
February 4 - AI and Retail Technology: Alpha Modus filed a lawsuit against Walgreens for what it called patent infringement concerning its AI-driven retail technology, MarketWatch reported.
January 31 - Lawsuit vs. OpenAI: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is trying to avoid being deposed in a copyright lawsuit against rival OpenAI, TechCrunch reported.
January 28 - OpenAi Counters India Lawsuit: OpenAI asked an Indian court to quash a plea by an organization representing Indian and global book publishers alleging use of copyright content for training AI models. Reuters reported and SeekingAlpha summarized. Related: See all generative AI lawsuits and court rulings.
January 27 - Potential India Media Lawsuit vs. OpenAI: Multiple media companies in India plan to be part of a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, Reuters reported.
January 25 - Paul McCartney's Perspectives: Sir Paul McCartney, in a BBC interview, called on the United Kingdom to protect music copyrights from AI training and other AI risks.
January 23 - Lawsuit vs. Microsoft LinkedIn: Microsoft's LinkedIn has been sued by Premium customers who allege the social media platform disclosed their private messages to third parties without permission to train generative AI models, Reuters reported. A LinkedIn spokesperson said in an emailed statement: “These are false claims with no merit,” PYMNTS reported.
January 21 - Lawsuit vs. Suno: GEMA is taking legal action against Suno, an AI-based generative music platform, Music Week reported. The German collection society has accused the company of processing recordings of songs from GEMA's repertoire without remuneration, the report said reported. It follows legal action against Suno by the RIAA in 2024, Music Week noted.
More: Continue to next page for earlier lawsuit updates.
9 comments on “Generative AI Lawsuits Timeline: Legal Cases vs. OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, Google, Nvidia, Perplexity, Salesforce, Apple and More”
It is important to understand that while AI technology brings many benefits, there are also legal issues that need to be resolved, especially in relation to copyright. Hopefully, all parties can find a fair and balanced solution so that innovation can continue to thrive without compromising the rights of content creators. Thank you for the very informative information!
Hi Bruno: I unplugged for a portion of May 2025 to rethink some of Sustainable Tech Partner's content strategy. The timeline is now updated to reflect milestones through June 15, 2025. Thank you for coming back for the updates, and for taking the time to post a comment. Best,
-jp
This timeline is great and all, but it doesn't answer a bigger question I've been pondering, which is how do we stop the likes of Jensen Huang, Lisa Su, Sam Altman and others from just having their way unchecked. The latest news has been about their seemingly uncontrolled data center construction projects causing harm to the residents and neighbors of said projects. People are complaining about their health being impacted and difficulties with greatly increased electricity bills. We've got the whole thing going on now with the RAM and storage prices just going up and up and up with no obvious limit in sight. How do we stop these trillion-dollar corporations cold? How do we make them stop with all this? Surely there has to be a way to force them to heel. How do we put these damned CEOs down, once and for all, for the good of mankind and the planet? Those are my concerns and thanks for any replies.
Hi Stephen: Thanks for your readership and comments. I understand and empathize with many of your concerns. But I don't see those executives & their corporations as all bad or all good. I believe there are nuances.
I don't see a need to "put these damned CEOs down, once and for all, for the good of mankind and the planet," as you state.
I do see valid concerns about electricity bills, seemingly uncontrolled data center projects, health, and rising technology prices.
And Microsoft, for instance, has vowed to pay its own way to ensure Microsoft data centers don't trigger rising electricity prices for local communities.
I'd encourage you to reach out to your local government representatives to express your concerns. And to vote in every election. And to join grass roots groups that are organizing against runaway Big Tech projects.
But I'd also encourage you and all readers to gather all sides of the story. How are certain data centers and their associated applications truly helping humankind? How are certain sustainable IT businesses ensuring that data centers mitigate or at least minimize their environmental impact?
Thousands of hardworking, ethical people work for Big Tech, midsize tech and small tech. I encourage our readers to keep those hardworking folks and their authentic missions in mind: Scientific research. Climate research. Health care. And so much more.
Thank you again for taking the time to express your concerns and views.
-jp
This timeline is incredibly insightful! It’s fascinating to see how various tech giants are navigating the legal landscape surrounding generative AI. The impact of these lawsuits could shape the future of AI development and usage, and I'm especially interested in how the outcomes will influence ethical guidelines in the industry. Thanks for compiling such a detailed resource!
Sustainable IT news & strategies. We empower MSPs, IT service providers, and channel partners to deliver green solutions that help Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) meet net-zero goals.
It is important to understand that while AI technology brings many benefits, there are also legal issues that need to be resolved, especially in relation to copyright. Hopefully, all parties can find a fair and balanced solution so that innovation can continue to thrive without compromising the rights of content creators. Thank you for the very informative information!
is the page not being updated anymore? i come back here every few weeks or so lol
Hi Bruno: I unplugged for a portion of May 2025 to rethink some of Sustainable Tech Partner's content strategy. The timeline is now updated to reflect milestones through June 15, 2025. Thank you for coming back for the updates, and for taking the time to post a comment. Best,
-jp
Can you update again to reflect the current status as of July?
Dear AvidReader: Thank you for your readership and the nudge. We've updated the article as of July 29. 2025. -jp
This timeline is great and all, but it doesn't answer a bigger question I've been pondering, which is how do we stop the likes of Jensen Huang, Lisa Su, Sam Altman and others from just having their way unchecked. The latest news has been about their seemingly uncontrolled data center construction projects causing harm to the residents and neighbors of said projects. People are complaining about their health being impacted and difficulties with greatly increased electricity bills. We've got the whole thing going on now with the RAM and storage prices just going up and up and up with no obvious limit in sight. How do we stop these trillion-dollar corporations cold? How do we make them stop with all this? Surely there has to be a way to force them to heel. How do we put these damned CEOs down, once and for all, for the good of mankind and the planet? Those are my concerns and thanks for any replies.
Hi Stephen: Thanks for your readership and comments. I understand and empathize with many of your concerns. But I don't see those executives & their corporations as all bad or all good. I believe there are nuances.
I don't see a need to "put these damned CEOs down, once and for all, for the good of mankind and the planet," as you state.
I do see valid concerns about electricity bills, seemingly uncontrolled data center projects, health, and rising technology prices.
In those areas, a growing number of towns and municipalities are voting no or pushing back against data center initiatives. As USA Today reported, Surging electricity rates put data centers on 2026 ballot.
And Microsoft, for instance, has vowed to pay its own way to ensure Microsoft data centers don't trigger rising electricity prices for local communities.
I'd encourage you to reach out to your local government representatives to express your concerns. And to vote in every election. And to join grass roots groups that are organizing against runaway Big Tech projects.
But I'd also encourage you and all readers to gather all sides of the story. How are certain data centers and their associated applications truly helping humankind? How are certain sustainable IT businesses ensuring that data centers mitigate or at least minimize their environmental impact?
Thousands of hardworking, ethical people work for Big Tech, midsize tech and small tech. I encourage our readers to keep those hardworking folks and their authentic missions in mind: Scientific research. Climate research. Health care. And so much more.
Thank you again for taking the time to express your concerns and views.
-jp
This timeline is incredibly insightful! It’s fascinating to see how various tech giants are navigating the legal landscape surrounding generative AI. The impact of these lawsuits could shape the future of AI development and usage, and I'm especially interested in how the outcomes will influence ethical guidelines in the industry. Thanks for compiling such a detailed resource!
Thanks for taking the time to read the timeline and post a comment. We'll strive to keep the timeline updates coming.
-jp