USA Today Co., which publishes USA TODAY and a network of local newspapers, has sued OpenAI in federal court in Manhattan. The complaint was filed on 8 October 2026 in the Southern District of New York as USA Today Co., Inc. v. OpenAI Foundation, case number 1:26-cv-08892, according to the court docket. Reuters first reported the suit.
Everything below describes the plaintiffs’ allegations. No court has ruled on any of them.
Who is suing, and whom
The docket lists USA Today Co., Inc. and affiliated companies including Gannett Satellite Information Network, Detroit Free Press, Phoenix Newspapers, Journal Sentinel, The Courier-Journal and the Des Moines Register and Tribune Company. Yahoo News counts 13 affiliated entities besides the parent and 19 publications, among them USA TODAY, The Tennessean, IndyStar, The Arizona Republic, the Detroit Free Press and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The defendants named in the complaint entry are OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI Group PBC, OpenAI OpCo, OpenAI Global, OpenAI GP, OAI Corporation and OAI International. The docket lists the nature of suit as copyright, under 17 U.S.C. 501. The complaint attaches two exhibits: copyright registrations and “GPT-5.6 Output Examples.” The filing attorney is Steven Lieberman.
What the publishers allege
As reported by Yahoo and The Verge, the complaint says OpenAI copied “hundreds of thousands” of articles to train its models without permission, and that ChatGPT reproduces or repackages that reporting for users, drawing readers away from the papers. It also alleges that OpenAI removed copyright management information from the works.
The publishers seek more than $250 million. According to Yahoo’s account of the complaint, that includes up to $150,000 for each work infringed willfully and up to $25,000 for each removal of copyright information. The Verge quotes the complaint: “OpenAI’s commercial success rests on large-scale copyright infringement.”
Where it fits
The case adds to a long list of publisher suits against OpenAI, including those brought by The New York Times, The Intercept, Ziff Davis and a coalition of local newspapers, many of which are consolidated in New York. The Verge notes that OpenAI did not immediately respond to its request for comment.
For readers following the AI copyright fight, the new element is the exhibit of outputs from GPT-5.6, a recent model, rather than older systems. Whether those outputs support the publishers’ claims is for the court. The next step to watch is OpenAI’s response and whether the case is joined to the existing consolidated proceedings.
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