Part 24 - COUNT VI: Common Law Unfair Competition By Misappropriation

COUNT VI: Common Law Unfair Competition By Misappropriation

Against All Defendants

192. The Times incorporates by reference and realleges the preceding allegations as though fully set forth herein.

193. The Times gathers information, which often takes the form of time-sensitive breaking news, for its content at a substantial cost to The Times. Wirecutter likewise compiles and produces time-sensitive recommendations for readers.

194. By offering content that is created by GenAI but is the same or similar to content published by The Times, Defendants’ GPT models directly compete with Times content. Defendants’ use of Times content encoded within models and live Times content processed by models produces outputs that usurp specific commercial opportunities of The Times, such as the revenue generated by Wirecutter recommendations. For example, Defendants have not only copied Times content, but also altered the content by removing links to the products, thereby depriving The Times of the opportunity to receive referral revenue and appropriating that opportunity for Defendants.

195. Defendants’ use of Times content to train models that produce informative text of the same general type and kind that The Times produces competes with Times content for traffic.

196. Defendants’ use of Times content without The Times’s consent to train Defendants’ GenAI models constitutes free-riding on The Times’s significant efforts and investment of human capital to gather this information.

197. Defendants’ misuse and misappropriation of Times content has caused The Times to suffer actual damages from the deprivation of the benefits of its work, such as, without limitation, lost advertising and affiliate referral revenue.