Apple (AAPL) Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged Use of Copyrighted Books in AI Training

Tech giant's AI ambitions hit legal roadblock as authors claim massive copyright infringement.

The Core Allegation

Apple stands accused of systematically scraping copyrighted literary works—without permission or compensation—to train its developing AI models. The lawsuit targets the company's aggressive push into artificial intelligence development.

Market Impact

Wall Street barely blinked—because when you're sitting on $200 billion in cash, legal settlements just become another line item in the R&D budget. Shareholders clearly believe innovation excuses infringement.

AI's Copyright Problem

This case joins growing scrutiny around how tech firms train AI systems. Companies race to hoard data while creators fight for compensation—creating legal battles that will define AI's ethical boundaries.

The Bottom Line

Apple joins Big Tech's copyright dance: apologize later, innovate first. Because in Silicon Valley, it's easier to seek forgiveness than permission—especially when you can afford both.

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Apple Faces Legal Trouble

The proposed class action filed against Apple in the federal court in Northern California by authors Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson alleges that the tech giant copied protected works without consent and without credit or compensation to train AI models. The lawsuit accuses the company of using a “known body” of pirated books to train its OpenELM large language model (LLM).

Furthermore, the lawsuit stated that Apple didn’t attempt to pay the two authors for their contributions to “this potentially lucrative venture.”

AI companies are increasingly facing legal woes for using data/content without the required permissions. In June, Microsoft (MSFT) was sued by a group of authors who accused the company of using their books without permission to train its Megatron AI model. ChatGPT maker OpenAI has also faced claims over the alleged misuse of copyrighted material in AI training. Notably, Anthropic recently agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class action lawsuit filed by authors who accused the Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL)-backed AI start-up of stealing their work to train its AI chatbot Claude without permission.

Is AAPL Stock a Good Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Currently, Wall Street has a Moderate Buy consensus rating on Apple stock based on 16 Buys, 12 Holds, and one Sell recommendation. The average AAPL stock price target of $240.12 indicates the stock is fully valued at current levels. AAPL stock is down 4.3% year-to-date.