550+ local and regional publications now suing OpenAI and Microsoft as 26 more publishers join Platkin-led action

What happened

On September 16, 2026, Platkin LLP announced that 26 additional local, regional, and specialty publishers joined its copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, bringing the coalition to 60 publishers representing more than 550 publications across the United States. New plaintiffs named include Times Publishing Company (the Tampa Bay Times), the Austin Chronicle, the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation, and SwimSwam.

The firm — founded by former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin — alleges OpenAI and Microsoft systematically and willfully copied copyrighted news articles without permission or compensation, used the material to train and build commercial AI products, and reproduced or repurposed that reporting. The complaint also alleges OpenAI knowingly removed copyright management information (author credits, copyright notices, terms of use) in violation of the DMCA. The publishers expect the case to be consolidated with the In re OpenAI Copyright Infringement multi-district litigation in the Southern District of New York.

Why it matters to creators

Scale is the story here: this is the largest collective action by local and regional news publishers against AI companies, and it turns the local-press licensing question into a single coordinated fight. For regional outlets, the outcome of this MDL-adjacent action — and whether a publisher-by-publisher licensing regime emerges — will set the economic terms under which their archives are used for AI training.

What is not yet known

Consolidation with the multi-district litigation had not yet occurred at announcement time; no ruling on the merits has been made, and the allegations are unproven. The remedy and damages the 550-outlet coalition will ultimately pursue beyond the complaint stage are not yet clear.