The New York Times and other newspaper companies filed a lawsuit against Brave Software yesterday, alleging the browser maker illegally bypasses paywalls and sells stolen news content to artificial intelligence firms. The complaint filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York describes Brave as a supplier and distributor of copyrighted material for its own users and major generative AI companies including Anthropic, Perplexity, Mistral, xAI, and Cohere. Citing third-party revenue estimates, the suit claims Brave has earned more than $100 million by copying and reselling publishers’ work without consent while publishers have received nothing. The document states AI companies pay Brave to provide real-time online content from the Brave Search index to train their own models or to access content for responding to specific user queries. Brave’s website confirms the Brave Search API is used by some of the biggest names in artificial intelligence including Cohere, Mistral, Perplexity, and You.com.
This legal action highlights the tension between traditional publishing revenue models and the data hunger of the AI sector. Publishers argue that automated scraping undermines their subscription businesses, while browser makers contend that providing search results is a standard function of the web. The outcome could reshape how search engines negotiate data access with media outlets. If courts rule against Brave, the industry may face stricter licensing requirements for training data. The specific demands in the lawsuit focus on shutting down the paywall blocker and ending commercial agreements with AI firms.
- Lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York
- Alleged revenue exceeds $100 million in unauthorised sales
- Named defendants include Anthropic, Perplexity, Mistral, xAI, and Cohere
