Facebook-parent Meta has scored a win in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by 13 prominent authors, including Sarah Silverman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, concerning the training of its Llama artificial intelligence (AI) model. However, the ruling may have left the door open for future legal challenges against Meta and other AI developers.
The judge sided with Meta’s argument that the company's use of copyrighted books to train its large language models (LLMs) falls under the fair use doctrine of US copyright law. While acknowledging that it “is generally illegal to copy protected works without permission,” the judge stated that the plaintiffs failed to present a compelling argument that Meta's methods caused “market harm”, as per CNBC.
“On this record Meta has defeated the plaintiffs’ half-hearted argument that its copying causes or threatens significant market harm,” the judge said, adding, “That conclusion may be in significant tension with reality.” He concluded that Meta's practice of “copying the work for a transformative purpose” is protected by fair use.
Judge warns Meta, calls company's argument 'nonsense'
The judge emphasised the limited scope of his ruling.
“In the grand scheme of things, the consequences of this ruling are limited. This is not a class action, so the ruling only affects the rights of these thirteen authors — not the countless others whose works Meta used to train its models,” he noted.
He also clarified that the ruling “does not stand for the proposition that Meta’s use of copyrighted materials to train its language models is lawful” in a general sense. He also dismissed Meta's argument that prohibiting the use of copyrighted text for training without payment would halt AI development, calling it “nonsense.”
The judge highlighted that a separate claim by the plaintiffs, alleging that Meta "may have illegally distributed their works (via torrenting)," remains pending.
What Meta has to say
A Meta spokesperson expressed satisfaction with the decision, stating, "Open-source AI models are powering transformative innovations, productivity and creativity for individuals and companies, and fair use of copyright material is a vital legal framework for building this transformative technology."
The decision comes a day after a federal judge ruled that Anthropic's use of copyrighted books to train its Claude chatbot constitutes fair use under copyright law.
The judge determined that training AI models on copyrighted works was “quintessentially transformative” and legally justified. The ruling dismissed key copyright infringement claims brought by authors who sued Anthropic last year alleging "large-scale theft" of their works.
The judge sided with Meta’s argument that the company's use of copyrighted books to train its large language models (LLMs) falls under the fair use doctrine of US copyright law. While acknowledging that it “is generally illegal to copy protected works without permission,” the judge stated that the plaintiffs failed to present a compelling argument that Meta's methods caused “market harm”, as per CNBC.
“On this record Meta has defeated the plaintiffs’ half-hearted argument that its copying causes or threatens significant market harm,” the judge said, adding, “That conclusion may be in significant tension with reality.” He concluded that Meta's practice of “copying the work for a transformative purpose” is protected by fair use.
Judge warns Meta, calls company's argument 'nonsense'
The judge emphasised the limited scope of his ruling.
“In the grand scheme of things, the consequences of this ruling are limited. This is not a class action, so the ruling only affects the rights of these thirteen authors — not the countless others whose works Meta used to train its models,” he noted.
He also clarified that the ruling “does not stand for the proposition that Meta’s use of copyrighted materials to train its language models is lawful” in a general sense. He also dismissed Meta's argument that prohibiting the use of copyrighted text for training without payment would halt AI development, calling it “nonsense.”
The judge highlighted that a separate claim by the plaintiffs, alleging that Meta "may have illegally distributed their works (via torrenting)," remains pending.
What Meta has to say
A Meta spokesperson expressed satisfaction with the decision, stating, "Open-source AI models are powering transformative innovations, productivity and creativity for individuals and companies, and fair use of copyright material is a vital legal framework for building this transformative technology."
The decision comes a day after a federal judge ruled that Anthropic's use of copyrighted books to train its Claude chatbot constitutes fair use under copyright law.
The judge determined that training AI models on copyrighted works was “quintessentially transformative” and legally justified. The ruling dismissed key copyright infringement claims brought by authors who sued Anthropic last year alleging "large-scale theft" of their works.
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