Background
Gracenote Media Services, LLC, a New York-headquartered media metadata company, filed this action on 10 March 2026 against multiple OpenAI entities in the Southern District of New York, alleging copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, and unjust enrichment in relation to the Gracenote Programs Database. The complaint relies on Gracenote’s June 2025 copyright registration, reflects OpenAI’s October 2025 restructuring in which OpenAI, Inc. became OpenAI Foundation and OpenAI Group PBC became the for-profit successor, and the case then entered the broader SDNY OpenAI copyright MDL context, where OpenAI Group PBC was substituted for OpenAI Holdings, LLC and Gracenote was later ordered to show cause why the action should not be stayed pending summary judgment motions in the other active MDL cases (ECFs 1, 1-1, 16, 20).
AI Interaction
The AI-specific core of the case is Gracenote’s allegation that OpenAI copied and used Gracenote Data to train, fine-tune, operate, improve, and ground GPT models and related products such as ChatGPT, ChatGPT Enterprise, and API tools, and that those systems can reproduce exact or near-exact Gracenote TMSIDs, memorise and regurgitate Gracenote programme descriptions, and replicate Gracenote editorial descriptors and mood tags. Gracenote further alleges that its database has particular value for AI grounding, retrieval-augmented generation, and MCP-server use, and that OpenAI’s alleged unlicensed use harms both Gracenote’s traditional media-metadata licensing business and its newer market for licensing structured data for AI training and grounding (ECFs 1, 1-1).
Notes:
- On 1 April 2026, Judge Stein ordered Gracenote to show cause by 15 April 2026 why this action should not be stayed pending resolution of summary judgment motions in the other active MDL cases, with any defence response due by 29 April 2026 [ECF 20].
- On 6 April 2026, Judge Wang set an in-person status conference for 12 May 2026 at 9:30 AM, with opening briefs due 29 April 2026, opposing briefs due 4 May 2026, and a joint dispute chart due 5 May 2026 [ECF 21].