Chabon v. OpenAI — Author Copyright Class Action (N.D. Cal.)
N.D. Cal. · Chabon v. OpenAI, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-04625 (N.D. Cal.)
Pulitzer winner Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, David Henry Hwang, and other authors sued OpenAI in September 2023 alleging ChatGPT was trained on their copyrighted books. Consolidated with Tremblay and Silverman before the same judge.
Technical detail
Chabon v. OpenAI, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-04625 (N.D. Cal., filed Sept. 8, 2023; Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín). Parallel complaint to Tremblay; same partial-dismissal disposition. Consolidated with Tremblay and Silverman; surviving claim is direct copyright infringement.
Who is protected: Class of U.S. book authors with works in OpenAI training corpora
Who must comply: OpenAI, Inc.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | N.D. Cal. |
|---|---|
| Level | Federal |
| Status | Blocked / in litigation |
| Protection strength | Limited protection |
| Effective date | 2023-09-08 |
| Citation | Chabon v. OpenAI, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-04625 (N.D. Cal.) |
| Topics | copyright and training data |
| Last verified | 2026-06-17 |
| Official source | Chabon v. OpenAI — CourtListener 3:23-cv-04625 ↗ |
More AI rules in N.D. Cal.
- Tremblay v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- Silverman v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- Kadrey v. Meta · Blocked / in litigation
- Chabon v. Meta · Blocked / in litigation
- Andersen v. Stability AI · Blocked / in litigation
- Doe v. GitHub (Copilot) · Blocked / in litigation
Related copyright and training data rules elsewhere
- Hachette v. Google (Gemini AI copyright) · Blocked / in litigation
- Copyright Office AI Guidance · In effect
- USPTO AI Inventorship Guidance · Repealed / replaced
- NYT v. OpenAI / Microsoft · Blocked / in litigation
- Authors Guild v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- Getty Images v. Stability AI (US) · Blocked / in litigation
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