Extract from Benjamin Joyer’s article “What the Legal Battle Between the New York Times and OpenAI Means for E-Discovery”
The copyright infringement suit brought by The New York Times against OpenAI in December 2023 has raised a host of intellectual property issues. Recent developments in the case, however, have also implicated important e-discovery and privacy topics.
On Nov. 7, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona Wang of the Southern District of New York ordered OpenAI to turn over a sample of 20 million anonymized ChatGPT chat logs in response to a request from the Times. OpenAI objected to the order in a Nov. 12 letter, arguing that a majority of the requested logs were irrelevant, and that turning them over would violate its users’ privacy rights.
Not only does the discovery dispute raise concerns for OpenAI, but it could also carry broader implications for other potential litigants.
The New York Times declined to comment on the case, which is captioned The New York Times v. Microsoft.
