TLDR: Perplexity AI is embroiled in multiple lawsuits, including significant copyright and trademark infringement claims from NewsCorp and a trademark dispute with Perplexity Solved Solutions Inc. These legal battles allege that Perplexity AI’s use of copyrighted content for its AI-generated responses acts as a substitute for original news sources, diverting revenue, and that its brand name causes consumer confusion, violating existing trademarks. The company, valued at $18 billion, maintains its practices are not misleading and has expressed openness to revenue-sharing models.
Perplexity AI, the rapidly growing web search engine powered by large language models, is currently navigating a complex legal landscape, facing multiple lawsuits that challenge its operational model and brand identity. The company, which synthesizes responses based on web search results and provides citations, is at the center of disputes concerning copyright infringement, trademark violations, and unauthorized content scraping.
One of the most prominent legal challenges comes from NewsCorp, through its subsidiaries Dow Jones & Company (owner of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s) and NYP Holdings, Inc. (owner of the New York Post). Filed on October 21, 2024, in the US Southern District of New York, this lawsuit alleges both copyright infringement and trademark violations. NewsCorp claims that Perplexity AI extensively uses copyrighted material to populate its “retrieval-augmented generation” (RAG) database, generating responses that directly substitute for users visiting the original news websites. This practice, according to the plaintiffs, diverts crucial advertising and subscription revenue. Furthermore, the lawsuit asserts that Perplexity AI’s snippets dilute their trademarks and mislead users, citing instances of false attributions and “hallucinations”—fabricated content presented as factual. NewsCorp is seeking a permanent injunction against Perplexity’s use of their copyrighted works, along with damages of $150,000 per copyright violation. The lawsuit was renewed on December 11, 2024, with plaintiffs demanding the destruction of Perplexity’s indices and databases containing their copyrighted works.
In response to these accusations, Perplexity AI initially remained silent but later published a blog post on October 24, 2024, stating that the complaints were misleading and reiterating its openness to revenue-sharing programs with content creators.
Adding to its legal woes, Perplexity AI is also facing a trademark infringement lawsuit from Perplexity Solved Solutions (PSS) Inc., a software firm established in 2017. Filed on January 31, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, this suit claims that Perplexity AI’s use of the “Perplexity” name infringes upon PSS’s federally registered trademark, leading to potential consumer confusion. PSS, which offers HR and workplace software solutions, had previously declined an offer from Perplexity AI in 2023 to purchase the trademark. The lawsuit seeks to prevent Perplexity AI from using the name in its branding and marketing. Despite this, Perplexity AI filed its own trademark application on February 9, 2024, covering a wide range of AI-related products.
Beyond these specific lawsuits, Perplexity AI has drawn scrutiny from other major media organizations. The New York Times issued a cease-and-desist notice in October 2024, demanding that Perplexity stop accessing and using its content. Similarly, in June 2025, the BBC threatened legal action, demanding that Perplexity AI cease unauthorized scraping of its content, delete all retained BBC material used in training its models, and provide financial compensation for intellectual property infringement. These actions highlight a broader industry concern among content creators regarding the unauthorized use of their material by generative AI systems.
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Perplexity AI, founded in 2022 and valued at US$18 billion as of July 2025, operates by processing user queries and synthesizing responses based on real-time web search results, providing citations for transparency. The outcome of these ongoing legal battles could significantly impact the future operations and business model of Perplexity AI and set precedents for the broader generative AI industry regarding intellectual property rights and content monetization.
