EFF files amicus brief in OpenAI case warning narrowed fair use would hurt public research and journalism

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said it filed an amicus brief in In re OpenAI, the consolidated copyright litigation against OpenAI and Microsoft, arguing that the court's fair-use ruling could affect people beyond the parties, including researchers, journalists, artists, activists, and people with disabilities. EFF's stated position is that narrowing fair use would impede work that benefits the public, such as medical research and investigative journalism, and could limit access to privacy-protection tools. The brief argues that requiring users to show copyrighted material was lawfully obtained would cast doubt on routine online copying, and that a mandatory licensing regime would advantage the largest companies over smaller competitors and academic researchers. EFF presents itself as defending the public's rights rather than either side's commercial position; it also states that creators deserve support and that large technology companies must be held accountable for harms they cause. The filing is an argument to the court, not a ruling, and the court has not decided the fair-use question in this case. This item is distinct from the other amicus filings in the same case already covered: its filer is EFF and its angle is the effect on the public's fair-use rights, not a publisher, union, or industry position.