Key facts
- A judge allowed Reddit's lawsuit against Perplexity AI and web scraper SerpApi to move forward.
- Reddit alleges SerpApi conspired with Perplexity AI to illegally scrape copyrighted content.
- The court found Reddit's claims plausible at this early stage.
- This ruling contrasts with a recent dismissal of a similar lawsuit filed by Google.
- Reddit argues its licensing agreement with Google prohibits certain data uses now accessed by Perplexity AI.
- Reddit seeks injunctions to block access and the use of scraped data.
A U.S. District Court judge has allowed Reddit's lawsuit against AI company Perplexity AI and web scraper SerpApi to proceed, ruling that Reddit has plausibly alleged a conspiracy to illegally access copyrighted content. The decision by Judge Paul A. Engelmayer came less than two weeks after a similar lawsuit filed by Google was dismissed.
Engelmayer stated that at this early stage, it is plausible that SerpApi provided a product to circumvent Google's access controls, and Perplexity AI paid for this service. This ruling is significant as it allows Reddit to argue that its licensing agreement with Google prohibits certain uses of its data, which Perplexity AI's circumvention methods allegedly bypass. Reddit contends that allowing deleted posts to remain accessible in Perplexity AI's search results harms its reputation and profits, and makes it impossible to honor user requests for content removal.
Reddit is seeking injunctions to block SerpApi and Perplexity AI from accessing Reddit and Google websites, to stop the circumvention of Google SearchGuard, and to prevent the use of previously scraped data. While Reddit celebrated the ruling, SerpApi maintains that it accesses public search results, not Reddit's platform, and that public information does not become protected simply because a platform wishes to charge for it. Reddit's claims for unjust enrichment and unfair competition were dismissed as preempted by the Copyright Act.
Legal experts note that the case highlights the ongoing battle between platforms and AI companies over data scraping. The outcome could set a precedent for how copyrighted content on the internet is accessed and licensed for AI training.