CNN sues – CNN filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, accusing the AI company of copying more than 17,000 CNN stories, videos, images, and other published works without permission. The complaint also alleges trademark violations and recounts a failed partnership that fell a
By the time CNN moved to court, the dispute had already passed through months of negotiation—and a hard stop.
On Thursday. CNN sued Perplexity in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. accusing the AI company of unlawfully using the news network’s copyrighted content. The lawsuit claims Perplexity copied over 17. 000 of CNN’s stories. videos. images. and other published works to support its products and tools.
CNN’s spokesperson said in a statement that the case is about more than data scraping or software training. “[Perplexity]. a company valued at tens of billions of dollars. should not be able to steal from entities that create the original content Perplexity exploits. ” the spokesperson said. “The public relies on high-quality news journalism reported by human beings to understand their world. which is frequently dangerous and expensive to produce. Commercial operators can and must pay to make use of it.”.
Beyond copyright, the lawsuit alleges trademark violations. CNN says Perplexity falsely claimed an affiliation between the brand and CNN, adding that the alleged misuse went beyond content into identifiers tied to the network.
The path to the complaint traces back to a specific attempt to do business together. In October 2025, CNN and Perplexity negotiated a partnership that would let the AI company access CNN paywalled content for its Comet Plus users in exchange for compensation to CNN.
That deal collapsed in November 2025, according to the legal complaint, as CNN and Perplexity couldn’t agree on multiple issues. After the breakdown, CNN blocked Perplexity’s AI bot from accessing its content.
CNN’s filing argues that the knowledge gap—what Perplexity allegedly knew and when—matters. The lawsuit states: “As a result, before and after Perplexity’s negotiations with CNN, Perplexity knew that it was not permitted to access CNN’s content or to use its trademarks or service marks.”
CNN says it escalated the matter privately before taking legal action. In December 2025. CNN wrote to Perplexity’s then-head of legal and operations. demanding a stop to all unauthorized use of CNN’s name and content. The complaint says Perplexity never responded to that letter and continued to use CNN’s content.
Perplexity has denied the underlying premise. In a statement to Fast Company, Perplexity’s chief communications officer, Jesse Dwyer, said: “You can’t copyright facts.”
This is not the first time Perplexity has faced courtroom friction as major publishers push back on AI tools. The New York Times, News Corp., Chicago Tribune, and Britannica are among the media outlets that have sued the AI startup in recent years.
In its lawsuit, CNN is seeking damages and restitution of profits.
CNN Perplexity AI lawsuit copyright infringement trademarks Comet Plus paywalled content Southern District of New York Jesse Dwyer
AI companies love stealing then acting surprised when sued.
Not gonna lie, I hate when sites scrape stuff, but 17,000 stories?? That sounds made up like how many are we talking lol. Also trademark violations seems like a reach.
Wait so CNN sued because Perplexity copied, but didn’t CNN literally try to partner with them first? Sounds like CNN got cold feet and now blaming them. I’m confused, like if it was unauthorized then why was the paywall access even a thing.
This is why I don’t trust these AI summaries. They always say they’re “not affiliated” but then somehow they’re using CNN identifiers?? Also can someone explain the difference between training and scraping cuz it feels like the same thing to me. CNN gonna win? Probably, but I feel like they’re suing everyone lately.