Tremblay v. OpenAI
Tremblay v. OpenAI — Author Copyright Class Action (N.D. Cal.)
N.D. Cal. · Tremblay v. OpenAI, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-03223 (N.D. Cal.)
- Status
- Blocked / in litigation
- Took effect
- June 28, 2023
- Applies to
- OpenAI, Inc.
Authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad filed one of the first author copyright suits against OpenAI in the Northern District of California in June 2023, alleging ChatGPT was trained on their copyrighted books without permission. Now consolidated with Silverman, Chabon, and other West Coast author actions before Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín.
Who is protected: Class of U.S. book authors whose works appear in OpenAI training corpora
Legal detail
Tremblay v. OpenAI, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-03223 (N.D. Cal., filed June 28, 2023; Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín). Putative class for direct copyright infringement, vicarious infringement, DMCA § 1202, unfair business practices (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200), negligence, and unjust enrichment. Feb. 12, 2024: court dismissed vicarious infringement, DMCA, negligence, and unjust enrichment claims with leave to amend; direct infringement claim survives. Consolidated for case management with Silverman, Chabon, In re OpenAI ChatGPT Litigation.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | N.D. Cal. |
|---|---|
| Level | Federal |
| Citation | Tremblay v. OpenAI, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-03223 (N.D. Cal.) |
| Topics | copyright and training data |
| Court record | Tremblay v. OpenAI — CourtListener 3:23-cv-03223 |
More AI rules in N.D. Cal.
- Silverman v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- Kadrey v. Meta · Blocked / in litigation
- Chabon v. OpenAI · 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
- New York Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act (2026) · Proposed / pending
- 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- USPTO AI Inventorship Guidance · Repealed / replaced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
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