Anthropic sued by major Canadian news publishers for copyright claims in Ontario court
In a lawsuit filed on Oct. 6, Postmedia, Torstar, The Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press say Anthropic broke copyright law by using their content to develop its large language AI model, Claude.
Newspapers say Anthropic broke copyright law by using their content to develop AI model Claude
Anja Karadeglija · The Canadian Press
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A group of news publishers, including Canada's largest newspapers, is suing AI company Anthropic in an Ontario court.
Postmedia, Torstar, The Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press say Anthropic broke copyright law by using their content to develop its large language AI model, Claude.
"Anthropic has made money from the commercial success of its AI models, built a wide range of services and raised large amounts of money — all without getting a valid licence from any of the News Media Companies," the lawsuit says.
"As a result, Anthropic has gained a great deal unfairly, at the expense of the News Media Companies," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit was filed on Oct. 6 and was first reported by the news website Cartt.ca. Anthropic has not replied to a request for comment. The claims have not been proven in court.
The lawsuit says Anthropic broke the rules for using the news websites and got around technical protections those websites had put in place to stop people from copying their content.
The lawsuit says the news organizations "are responsible for creating a large share of Canada's news reporting — from daily printed newspapers to news published online around the clock." Together, they have millions of readers.
"To get content for its models and services, Anthropic deliberately 'scrapes' (meaning it accesses and copies) huge amounts of text from the internet and the Plaintiffs' Websites," the lawsuit says.
The news organizations say Anthropic uses this content to develop its AI models without their permission or agreement. They also say Anthropic continues to copy content when users enter prompts.
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"Despite concerns raised by many content creators in different industries, including through other lawsuits and public criticism, Anthropic has done nothing to stop its unlawful actions," the lawsuit says.
In 2024, the same companies also filed a lawsuit against OpenAI alongside CBC/Radio-Canada. That case has not yet been settled.
News publishers in other countries have also sued technology companies for using their articles to train AI systems. The New York Times sued OpenAI over its use of the newspaper's copyrighted material. Last month, the U.S. Justice Department supported the technology company.