Penske Media Sues Google Over AI Summaries

Penske Media Corporation PMC the owner of Rolling Stone and other prominent publications has filed a lawsuit against Google. The lawsuit centers around Google’s AI-generated summaries alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition.

The Core of the Lawsuit

PMC’s lawsuit targets Google’s practice of creating AI-driven summaries of news articles and other content. PMC argues that these summaries, often displayed prominently in Google Search results, directly compete with their original content. They also argue it reduces traffic to their websites harming their revenue streams.

Copyright Infringement Claims

The lawsuit claims that Google’s AI summaries often reproduce substantial portions of PMC’s copyrighted material without permission. PMC contends that this constitutes direct copyright infringement as Google is essentially creating derivative works without proper licensing or authorization.

Unfair Competition Allegations

Beyond copyright infringement PMC alleges that Google’s practices create unfair competition. By providing AI-generated summaries Google diminishes the incentive for users to click through to the original articles on PMC’s websites. This diversion of traffic harms PMC’s ability to generate advertising revenue and subscriptions.

This lawsuit highlights the growing concerns among publishers regarding the impact of AI on their business models. Many publishers fear that AI-driven content aggregation and summarization tools will undermine their ability to monetize their content effectively. The lawsuit could set a precedent for how copyright laws apply to AI-generated content and how tech companies can use published materials.

What’s Going On Key Lawsuits & Complaints

• Penske Media Corporation PMC the publisher behind Rolling Stone Variety Billboard Hollywood Reporter etc. filed a lawsuit against Google in Washington D.C. alleging that Google’s AI Overviews summaries generated and presented above regular search results use its journalism without permission and harm its traffic and revenue.
• PMC claims that around 20% of Google search results that include a link to a PMC site also include an AI Overview and this feature is reducing clicks referral traffic to those publisher sites. Axios
• The complaint says Google is conditioning inclusion in search indexing on content being used for AI Overviews which PMC regards as unfair coercive.
• PMC is seeking monetary damages and a permanent injunction to stop Google from continuing to use its content in this way.

Google’s Response & What They Haven’t Said Explicitly

• Google has defended AI Overviews saying these summaries make search more helpful and help users find relevant content more efficiently.
• Google also claims that AI Overviews drive more traffic to a broader set of websites helping discovery.
• What Google has not clearly said yet:
  1. They haven’t admitted that the Overviews feature constitutes copyright infringement or oversteps what’s allowed under fair use.
  2. They haven’t disclosed detailed internal metrics of how much traffic is lost from publishers due to AI Overviews.
  3. They haven’t publicly offered a licensing scheme in PMC’s case to compensate publishers for use of their content in AI Overviews at least not in the lawsuit’s filings.