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The Times<\/em> sued Microsoft for allegedly copying its stories and using that data to mimic its style, but Microsoft\u2019s lawyers are now arguing that OpenAI\u2019s large language models are just the latest in a long line of technologies that are considered legal despite their potential for copyright abuse. \u201cDespite The Times\u2019s contentions, copyright law is no more an obstacle to large language model than it was to the VCR (or the player piano, copy machine, personal computer, internet or search engine),\u201d reads one passage. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ian Crosby, partner at Susman Godfrey and lead counsel for the Times, <\/em>tells The Verge<\/em> that Microsoft did not dispute that it worked with OpenAI to copy the publication\u2019s stories. \u201cInstead, it oddly compares LLMs to the VCR even though VCR makers never argued that it was necessary to engage in massive copyright infringement to build their products,\u201d Crosby said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Microsoft also challenged the Times\u2019<\/em> allegation that Microsoft knew about and induced users\u2019 copyright infringement by offering products using OpenAI\u2019s GPT model, arguing that the Times<\/em> never gave an example of direct infringement by a Copilot user.\u00a0\u201cThe Times\u2019s contributory infringement theory thus fails on the very same basis the challenge to the VCR failed four decades ago: It improperly seeks to impose liability based \u2018solely [on] the design or distribution of a product capable of substantial lawful use,\u2019\u201d Microsoft\u2019s motion states.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Microsoft also claims the Times<\/em> didn\u2019t prove Microsoft violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by deliberately removing copyright management information, like the copyright owner\u2019s name, from its training data. Microsoft noted other generative AI lawsuits that used the same argument as the Times <\/em>had those claims dismissed, <\/em>like one brought by authors including Sarah Silverman<\/a>,\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n