News publishers’ copyright lawsuit against OpenAI to go ahead in Ontario

An Ontario court has decided a copyright lawsuit filed by Canadian news publishers against OpenAI will proceed in that province.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, had put forward a jurisdictional challenge and argued the case should be heard in a U.S. courtroom instead.

Get daily National news

OpenAI said the company isn’t located in Ontario and doesn’t do business in the province, and that the alleged conduct — the AI model training and crawling of web content — took place outside of Ontario.

But the decision by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice concludes the court does have jurisdiction to hear the case.

• Guilbeault won’t resign from Cabinet over pipeline deal, government source says
• Canada launches new alert system to protect people in extreme weather

A coalition of Canadian news outlets, which includes The Canadian Press, Torstar, The Globe and Mail, Postmedia and CBC/Radio-Canada, launched the lawsuit a year ago.

They argue that OpenAI is using their news content to train ChatGPT, breaching copyright and profiting from the use of that content without permission or compensation.

• ‘Emergencies don’t wait’: Toronto Hydro urges preparedness for winter power outages
• Blue Jays agree to terms with right-hander Dylan Cease on 7-year deal
• 2 from Alberta charged in Ontario sex assault dating back to 2020
• Ontario should allow restorative justice in cases involving sexual offences: report

• Carney says B.C. and First Nations ‘have to agree’ on Alberta’s pipeline plan
• U.S. brewing school moving to Canada after 150 years
• Alberta-Ottawa announce pipeline plan to B.C. coast
• Global National: Nov. 26