Sources: the USPTO and US Copyright Office were surprised by the DOJ's brief supporting OpenAI and Microsoft in their dispute with the New York Times (Axios)

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief supporting OpenAI and Microsoft in their lawsuit against the New York Times. The brief asserts that the companies’ use of the Times’ copyrighted text does not violate U.S. copyright law. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office were unprepared for the DOJ’s position. The DOJ’s argument relies on the fair-use defense and the transformative nature of AI training.