Copyright Alliance files amicus brief arguing there is no categorical fair use exception for AI training

What happened

The Copyright Alliance submitted an amicus brief on Thursday, 29 October 2026, in the multidistrict AI copyright infringement case In Re: OpenAI Copyright Infringement Litigation, according to the organization's press release. CEO Keith Kupferschmid said the brief addresses how the court analyzes fair use in the case, which he said matters not only to the news publisher and book author plaintiffs but to all copyright owners and creators.

The argument

The brief argues there is no categorical fair use exception for copying protected works for AI model development, and that prior case law does not give AI companies a free pass to use copyrighted works without permission or compensation. It also details what the Alliance describes as a robust and growing licensing market for the use of copyrighted works for AI development, which it says is harmed by unauthorized uses and by the known sourcing of pirated works for training and model optimization. The Alliance argues AI developers do not need to resort to unauthorized uses and piracy for training and model optimization.

What this is not

This is an argument to the court, not a ruling. The court has not decided the fair-use question in this case.