News Corp has filed a countersuit against Brave, accusing the browser company of systematically scraping copyrighted news articles to train its artificial intelligence models. The publisher is seeking damages of up to $150,000 for each work allegedly infringed, in what it calls a landmark legal action.
What the countersuit alleges
The lawsuit claims Brave scraped content from News Corp's publications without permission or payment, then used that material to develop and improve its AI systems. News Corp argues that this practice violates copyright law and undermines the value of its journalism. The company is asking the court to order Brave to stop the scraping and to pay statutory damages.
Brave, known for its privacy-focused browser, has not yet filed a public response to the countersuit. The case is one of several high-profile disputes between content creators and tech companies over the use of copyrighted material in AI training.
Why this case matters
Legal experts following the dispute say the outcome could set a precedent for how publishers can protect their work from being used by AI systems without a license. The $150,000 per-infringement figure is the maximum statutory damage allowed under U.S. copyright law for willful violations. News Corp's decision to pursue that ceiling signals it views the scraping as deliberate and damaging.
The countersuit comes after Brave initially sued News Corp in 2023 over alleged trademark infringement related to the use of the word “brave” in a news product. That case is ongoing.
What happens next
The court will now set a schedule for discovery and motions. Both sides are expected to argue over whether scraping publicly available web content for AI training constitutes fair use. No trial date has been set.
