AI startup Perplexity says Dow Jones badgered its bot in copyright infringement court fight
Business Insider
February 25, 2026
AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary
The $20 billion AI startup Perplexity is deepening its legal feud with Dow Jones over allegations that its search engine improperly uses copyrighted content from The Wall Street Journal and other publications. Perplexity claims Dow Jones "cherry-picked" responses to support its copyright infringement lawsuit, arguing the publisher's refusal to hand over user search histories during discovery is stalling the case. At stake is whether AI search engines can legally summarize or reproduce paywalled articles without compensating content owners.
Dow Jones and News Corp.'s New York Post filed suit against Perplexity in 2024, accusing it of copying their articles verbatim, which they say undermines their ability to monetize through ads and subscriptions. Perplexity counters that its tool generates summaries from trusted sources but refuses to comply with document requests, claiming doing so would expose an "inconvenient truth." The startup's motion describes instances where users attempted to prompt the search engine to reproduce articles verbatim or bypass paywalls, which Perplexity claims it blocked.
The legal battle highlights a broader clash between AI companies and traditional publishers over content ownership and profit-sharing. For business readers, this case could set a precedent for how AI platforms handle copyrighted material, impacting the future of AI-driven content aggregation and summarization. Meanwhile, Perplexity is rethinking its monetization strategy, shifting away from ads toward subscriptions and enterprise customers as it faces investor skepticism and legal challenges.
Perplexity's $20 billion valuation reflects its ambitious vision to become a Google-like search engine for the chatbot era. However, its ability to sustain growth while navigating legal battles and evolving business
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Originally published on Business Insider on 2/25/2026