This AI company from the USA was sued by a Japanese media giant

Image from the japan times

Yomiuri Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, has filed a lawsuit seeking ¥2.2 billion (approximately RM97 million) in damages from U.S.-based AI startup Perplexity.

The suit accuses the company of using the newspaper’s content without permission, raising broader concerns about how AI tools might disrupt traditional journalism and advertising revenue models.

What happened

Filed on 8 August 2025 in a Tokyo court, the lawsuit claims that Perplexity used around 120,000 Yomiuri articles between February and June this year without obtaining permission or paying licensing fees.

Yomiuri argues that the AI firm generated summaries of its content and displayed them directly to users, bypassing the newspaper’s website and effectively reducing its web traffic and ad income.

The newspaper also emphasised the broader implications of this practice, warning that such “free-riding” behavior by AI platforms threatens the sustainability of accurate journalism and could erode public trust in credible news sources—issues that are increasingly being raised in legal battles around the world.

Yomiuri’s daily print circulation remains among the largest globally, currently estimated at around 6 million copies, though this represents a decline from its 2010 peak of over 10 million.

Meanwhile, Perplexity has pushed back against similar legal challenges from U.S. media organizations such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post.

The company criticised these lawsuits as "short-sighted" and argued that collaboration between AI firms and news publishers would lead to better outcomes for the public.

This lawsuit marks one of the first known cases in Japan involving an AI company and a domestic publisher, potentially setting a precedent for how AI-generated summaries of copyrighted content will be treated under Japanese law.

Key case details

Below are the main facts involved in the legal dispute:

• Plaintiff: Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)
• Defendant: Perplexity (U.S.-based AI firm)
• Period of alleged infringement: February to June 2025
• Number of articles used: Approximately 120,000
• Damages sought: ¥2.2 billion (around RM97 million)
• Main claim: Unauthorised use of copyrighted news content
• Alleged impact: Loss of web traffic, reduced ad revenue, risk to journalism integrity

Will this lawsuit shape how AI firms handle news content globally? And could similar claims emerge in Malaysia or Southeast Asia as AI-powered platforms grow? Stay tuned to TechNave.com for more updates.