Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster have filed a lawsuit against AI startup Perplexity, accusing the company of illegally copying their content for its search engine. Blake Brittain reports for Reuters that the reference publishers filed the complaint in New York federal court on Wednesday.
The companies claim Perplexity’s “answer engine” unlawfully scrapes their websites and uses their articles to generate AI summaries without permission. They argue this practice reduces their web traffic and revenue by directing users to Perplexity’s summaries instead of their original content.
The lawsuit alleges Perplexity infringes copyrights by reproducing protected material and violates trademark rights by attributing AI-generated misinformation to the publishers. Britannica and Merriam-Webster seek unspecified monetary damages and a court order to stop the alleged misuse.
Perplexity faces similar legal challenges from News Corp’s Dow Jones and New York Post. The case represents part of a broader legal battle between content creators and AI companies over unauthorized use of copyrighted material in artificial intelligence systems.