<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><span class="has-underline">President Donald Trump’s</span> Justice Department has sided with OpenAI in a legal dispute with The Intercept and other media companies regarding the use of copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence tools.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In a federal court filing in New York, the Justice Department asserted that the U.S. has a significant interest in allowing OpenAI access to a wide range of intellectual property. The administration cautioned that limiting OpenAI's access to such data could hinder scientific advancement and negatively impact the U.S.'s position in the global AI sector.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“The United States has a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive artificial intelligence industry that sets the standard for the practice and procedure of AI use globally,” stated the filing, which was signed by associate attorneys general Stanley Woodward Jr. and Brett Shumate, along with senior counsel Michael Weisbuch.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Matt Topic, the attorney representing The Intercept in its lawsuit, expressed concerns that the Trump administration's stance threatens the financial viability of media organizations. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“This is pretty reflective of the administration’s pro-AI policies, which are out of step with the public skepticism of AI and out of step with our long tradition in this country of protecting human expression,” Topic said. “If the administration’s position was accepted, it would result in an unprecedented, uncompensated transfer of IP rights from news organizations to tech companies.”</p>
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>“If the administration’s position was accepted, it would result in an unprecedented, uncompensated transfer of IP rights from news organizations to tech companies.”</p></blockquote></figure>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Intercept filed its <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.616536/gov.uscourts.nysd.616536.1.0_1.pdf">lawsuit</a> against OpenAI and Microsoft in February 2024, claiming that OpenAI’s use of its journalists' work violated copyright law. In November 2024, a judge dismissed all claims against Microsoft but allowed the claim against OpenAI to proceed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Intercept’s case was later consolidated under U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein alongside other media plaintiffs, including the New York Times, Tribune Media Company, and Ziff Davis.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">OpenAI contends that its practice of using large amounts of copyright-protected materials to train its large language models falls under the “fair use” doctrine, which allows for unlicensed use of copyrighted material under specific circumstances.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In its filing, the Justice Department backed OpenAI’s fair-use defense, arguing that the Times and other plaintiffs have a limited interpretation of the doctrine. The government contended that OpenAI’s use of the material qualifies as “transformative,” which is one of the criteria for fair use.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“In this litigation, the New York Times seeks to narrow fair-use doctrine to exclude the training of OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs). That result would be inconsistent with basic copyright law principles and severely hamper ‘the Progress of Science and useful Arts,’” the filing states. “An erroneous fair use ruling would hamper competition in the market for LLMs, because only the largest technology companies might have the capital necessary to pay licensing fees.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This filing represents the Trump administration's ongoing efforts to support U.S.-based AI companies amid a competitive landscape with international firms, particularly those from <a href="https://theintercept.com/2026/08/23/trump-china-ai-chips-rare-earth/">China</a>.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In December 2025, Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/12/eliminating-state-law-obstruction-of-national-artificial-intelligence-policy/">executive order</a> aimed at establishing a federal standard to ensure the U.S. remains competitive in the AI sector.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Topic criticized the Justice Department's position, stating that it indicates a bias in favor of tech companies rather than an impartial assessment of the case's merits. </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“What they’re saying isn’t based on any understanding of actual facts,” Topic said. “It just reflects what Microsoft’s and OpenAI’s PR machines have been putting out into the public.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"></p> <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2026/09/02/trump-openai-copyright-lawsuit-news-articles/">Trump Admin Tells Court: Let OpenAI Rip Off The Intercept’s Articles</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>