Cable News Network, Inc. v. Perplexity AI, Inc.

Case posture

As alleged in the complaint (ECF No. 1, ¶¶ 107–153) [§ 51], CNN asserts direct copyright infringement claims concerning input copies under 17 U.S.C. § 106(1) (Count I) and output copies under 17 U.S.C. § 106(2) (Count II), contributory and vicarious copyright infringement (Count III), false designation of origin and dilution under 15 U.S.C. § 1125 (Count IV), and trademark infringement under 15 U.S.C. § 1114 (Count V). As stated by Perplexity in its motion memorandum (ECF No. 31, at 1–2, 4, 22) [§ 71], Perplexity seeks dismissal under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) of Counts II–V but does not seek dismissal at this stage of the input-copy claim in Count I, arguing that the output-related copyright claims and trademark claims are insufficiently pleaded. According to the court docket (ECF Nos. 30–31, 37, 41–43) [§ 152], Perplexity filed the motion on August 21, 2026, CNN opposed it on September 25, Perplexity replied on October 23, ECF No. 42 states that briefing is complete and requests oral argument, and the latest public entry reviewed on October 29 is ECF No. 43, a proposed case management plan filed October 26; no ruling on ECF No. 30 appears in the public feed through ECF No. 43.

Why it matters

As alleged in the complaint (ECF No. 1, ¶¶ 4, 7, 54–57, 64–95) [§ 52], Perplexity copied CNN stories, videos, images, and other works for its search index and retrieval-augmented-generation inputs and generated verbatim or near-verbatim reproductions, summaries, or abridgements, with examples involving its consumer chatbot, Comet browser, Search API, and Agent API.