Judge Dismisses Authors' Copyright Suit Against Meta

A U.S. federal judge dismissed a copyright lawsuit brought by 13 authors, including Sarah Silverman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, who alleged Meta used their works without permission to train its Llama AI model. The judge found Meta’s use of the copyrighted books to be 'highly transformative' and protected under the fair use doctrine, mainly due to the plaintiffs' failure to show actual or likely market harm. The ruling was limited to this specific case and does not establish broad legality for AI companies training on copyrighted materials without permission. The judge noted that it is generally illegal to copy protected works without permission and indicated that stronger cases could succeed. Meta welcomed the decision as a win for fair use and AI innovation, while the plaintiffs' lawyers insisted that unauthorized AI training typically violates copyright law. The decision highlights continued legal uncertainty and the likelihood of future challenges to AI model training practices.