News Corp countersues Brave over alleged scraping of articles for AI

News Corp has filed a countersuit against search engine Brave Software accusing it of flagrant theft for distributing and selling versions of Wall Street Journal and New York Post articles to AI companies, Reuters reported. In a Tuesday filing in Oakland, California, federal court, News Corp said Brave's unauthorized covert scraping and resale of its copyrighted articles fall nowhere near the bounds of fair use. The media company is seeking an injunction, unspecified monetary damages, and statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringement. Brave and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours, Reuters said. Brave had previously sued News Corp after a cease-and-desist letter, seeking a court declaration that its practices were legal. Brave sued in March 2025 and filed a revised complaint in May 2026 after what News Corp called failed negotiations for a fair, market-based agreement. Brave has argued that indexing News Corp content for search and providing snippets and high-level summaries amounts to fair use, and has accused News Corp of threatening advances in generative AI. News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson said Brave's conduct showed blatant disregard for damage to how information is disseminated and called for an end to what he described as tacky tech trafficking if journalism is to have a sustainable future. Reuters placed the fight within a wider wave of litigation between publishers and technology companies over copyrighted content used to support AI.