The New York Times sues Brave over AI search and paywall circumvention

The New York Times Company sued Brave Software on November 2, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging copyright infringement over Brave's use of NYT articles in its search index and AI services and over its browser feature that bypasses the publisher's paywall. The complaint asserts five claims: direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement, circumvention of technological protection measures under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and unjust enrichment under New York state law. The suit alleges Brave crawls webpages to build a search index and repurposes NYT content in search results and AI features while letting users read paywalled articles without subscribing. The case adds to a growing wave of litigation by publishers against AI and search companies over content scraping and paywall circumvention, and its outcome could shape how AI search products license and display news content. What to watch next is whether other major publishers file similar suits against Brave and whether the court addresses the DMCA circumvention claim, which carries particular weight for paywall-dependent business models.