US EditionNikkei and Asahi Shimbun Sue Perplexity AI over Alleged Copyright Violations
Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun seek 4.4 billion yen in damages and an injunction against Perplexity AI for unauthorized use and damage to their reputations since June 2024.
- On August 26, 2025, two major Japanese news publishers jointly filed a copyright infringement claim against Perplexity AI at the Tokyo District Court.
- The suit follows allegations that Perplexity AI has reproduced and stored Nikkei and Asahi content without authorization since June 2024, damaging the publishers' credibility and violating their exclusive content rights.
- The newspapers accuse Perplexity AI of ignoring robots.txt files, inserting errors attributed to the outlets, and causing readership and revenue declines amid a broader media industry dispute over AI content use.
- The publishers have filed a lawsuit seeking a court order to prevent the unauthorized use of their content and are demanding damages totaling 4.4 billion yen , asserting that such conduct constitutes ongoing extensive exploitation of journalists' work.
- This legal action highlights a growing global conflict over AI and news media rights, with courts in Japan, the US, and Europe becoming key battlegrounds for copyright law application to generative AI.
26 Articles
26 Articles
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Perplexity AI, a startup that has previously come under fire from online publishers, is attempting to rebuild trust with media players through revenue-sharing agreements. But that effort hasn’t stopped complaints about how the company surfaces content. Its latest challenge comes from Japanese media groups Nikkei and Asahi Shumbun, which today (Aug. 26) filed a joint lawsuit accusing Perplexity of copyright infringement. Co-founded in 2022 by CEO…
Perplexity AI sued for copyright infringement by Japan’s top newspapers Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun - Tech Startups
Perplexity AI has landed in hot water in Tokyo. Two of Japan’s most influential newspapers, Nikkei and The Asahi Shimbun, are taking the San Francisco–based startup to court, accusing it of copying and misusing their journalism to fuel its AI […] The post Perplexity AI sued for copyright infringement by Japan’s top newspapers Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun first appeared on Tech Startups.
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