Copyright Winter Is Coming (To Wikipedia?)

Summary

This is a guest post by Matthew Sag, Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Science at Emory University Law School. It was originally posted here, addressing Judge Stein’s Order Denying OpenAI’s Motion to Dismiss in Authors Guild v. OpenAI, Inc., No. 25-md-3143 (SHS) (OTW) (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 27, 2025).A white walker in a desolate field reading Wikipedia (an AI Image by Gemini)A new ruling in Authors Guild v. OpenAI has major implications for copyright law, well beyond artificial intelligence. On October 27, 2025, Judge Sidney Stein of the Southern District of New York denied OpenAI’s motion to dismiss claims that ChatGPT outputs infringed the rights of authors such as George R.R. Martin and David Baldacci. The opinion suggests that short summaries of popular works of fiction are very likely infringing (unless fair use comes to the rescue).This is a fundamental assault on the idea-expression distinction as applied to works of fiction. It places thousands of Wikipedia entries in the copyright crosshairs and suggests that any kind of summary or analysis of a work of fiction is presumptively infringing.In Penguin Random House LLC v. Colting, the Southern District of New York found that defendant’s “The Kinderguide” series, which condensed classic works of literature into children’s books, infringed the copyrights in the original works despite being marketed as educational tools for parents to introduce literature to young children.Every year, I ask students in my copyright class why the children’s versions of classic novels in Colting were found to be infringing but a Wikipedia summary of the plots of those same books probably wouldn’t be. A recent ruling in the consolidated copyright cases against OpenAI means I might have to reconsider.On October 27, 2025, Judge Stein of the Southern District of New York denied OpenAI’s motion to dismiss the output-based copyright infringement claims brought by a class of authors including ...