CNN has filed a New York federal lawsuit against Perplexity alleging unlawful copying and distribution of CNN content, including verbatim article copies and access to CNN material behind a subscription without permission, and is seeking damages plus a permanent injunction.

The legal action follows previous negotiations that failed to yield a final licensing deal, with CNN terminating talks in November after unresolved usage limits and other issues, and sending a cease-and-desist letter that Perplexity did not respond to.

Publishers are increasingly negotiating licensing deals and partnerships with tech firms to ensure access to verified news while directing readers back to original articles.

The case underscores broader tensions in the media industry over compensation, licensing, and the handling of outbound links as AI models rely on copyrighted material for training and responses.

The Open Markets Institute highlights a double bind for creators: gatekeeping licensing by tech giants who also rely on their content and suffering revenue losses from reduced human traffic.

Perplexity, an AI-powered answer engine, aggregates live internet content to generate summaries, which publishers say can divert traffic away from original articles.

Perplexity has argued that attempts to curb AI innovation by monopolizing facts will conflict with intellectual property laws and will continue to operate under those principles.

Perplexity contends that facts cannot be copyrighted, framing the dispute around presentation rather than the underlying information.

The company maintains that you cannot copyright facts, reflecting its stance on information use in AI outputs.

The U.S. Copyright Office notes that copyright protects expressions, not facts or methods, fueling the debate over verbatim copying versus paraphrasing of CNN content.

Analysts note AI crawlers bypassing paywalls have driven publishers to form licensing deals to monetize content used for AI training, shifting from unauthorized scraping to formal partnerships.

CNN argues that a company valued in the tens of billions should compensate content creators and avoid “stealing” original material.