The lawsuit initiated by the Daily News, Chicago Tribune, and other publications claims that OpenAI used copyrighted material to train its AI models without permission.

This case, titled Daily News LP v. Microsoft Corporation, is filed in the Southern District of New York under case number 1:24-cv-03285.

In June, OpenAI sought to merge this lawsuit with another case filed by the New York Times Co., while the Center for Investigative Reporting also launched a lawsuit against OpenAI around the same time.

OpenAI is represented by a team of law firms including Kever Van Nest & Peters LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP, and Morrison & Foerster LLP, while the news plaintiffs are represented by Rothwell Figg Ernst & Manbeck PC.

On October 18, 2024, OpenAI's attorneys filed a letter in court expressing concerns about the risk of accidental disclosure of proprietary information to Theodora AI through Dr. Ricardo Baeza-Yates.

OpenAI requested a judge to prevent Dr. Baeza-Yates, a consultant for the suing newspapers and chief scientific officer at Theodora AI, from accessing sensitive training data due to potential conflicts of interest.

Dr. Baeza-Yates' role at Theodora AI, which operates in the same field as OpenAI, raises significant concerns regarding the separation of confidential information.

This marks the first time OpenAI has sought to limit information exposure to an expert in the Daily News lawsuit, despite not imposing similar restrictions on 12 other experts involved.

On the same day, the New York Times and Daily News plaintiffs agreed to consolidate their cases, provided there are no delays and no need to coordinate with other lawsuits against OpenAI in California.

OpenAI argued that Dr. Baeza-Yates would find it challenging to separate any confidential information from OpenAI's technical documentation from his work with Theodora AI.