Yomiuri Shimbun Sues Perplexity AI for Copyright Infringement

Yomiuri Shimbun has initiated legal proceedings against Perplexity AI, accusing the AI company of copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in the Tokyo District Court, claims that Perplexity AI accessed over 100,000 articles from Yomiuri Shimbun's digital edition without authorization between February and June. Yomiuri Shimbun is seeking approximately 2.17 billion yen ($14.78 million) in damages and demands the cessation of article reproduction and deletion of existing copies.

The lawsuit marks the first instance of a major Japanese media outlet taking legal action against an AI company for unauthorized use of copyrighted materials. Yomiuri Shimbun argues that Perplexity AI's service, which combines a conventional search engine with generative AI, violates the "right of reproduction" and "right to transmit to the public" under the Copyright Law. The newspaper claims that this practice harms its business interests by reducing website traffic and advertising revenue.

Perplexity AI has not yet commented on the lawsuit. This case adds to a growing list of legal challenges faced by AI companies over the use of copyrighted content in their models.