News Corp has filed a countersuit against Brave Software in a California federal court,alleging the search engine stole content from the New York Post and Wall Street Journal. This legal clash follows an earlier attempt by Brave to secure a court ruling that its data practices were legal.
The $150,000-per-infringement price tag for 'covert scraping'
News Corp is seeking an injunction and significant monetary damages in an Oakland, California,federal court, claiming Brave Software engaged in "covert scraping" of its intellectual property. According to Reuters, News Corp is pursuing damages of up to $150,000 for every single infringement of its copyrighted material.
The legal dispute centers on the unauthorized distribution of articles from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. News Corp argues that by selling versions of these articles to AI developers, Brave Software removes the incentive for those tech firms to negotiate direct licenses with the original publishers, effectively cutting the creators out of the profit loop.
From the March 2025 lawsuit to failed market-based negotiations
This conflict began when Brave Software filed a preemptive lawsuit in March 2025. As Reuters reported, the San Francisco-based company sought a court declaration that bundling copyrighted articles for sale does not constitute copyright infringement, moving first after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from the Murdoch-led media giant.
By May 2026, Brave Software filed a revised complaint after negotiations for what News Corp described as a "fair , market-based agreement" reportedly failed. Brave Software contends that its practice of providing "high-level summaries" and indexing content for searchability falls under the legal doctrine of fair use, rather than theft.
Brave's 'fair use' defense against the Murdoch family's media empire
The battle between News Corp and Brave Software reflects a wider industry war. Media giants, including Dow Jones and News Corp's operations in Australia and Britain, are increasingly litigating against AI firms and search engines that use journalistic content to train large language models without compensation.
Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, has characterized the situation as "tacky tech trafficking." Thomson argues that the sustainability of journalism depends on ending the unauthorized looting of content by search and AI entities, claiming that Brave Software has shown a "blatant disregard" for the dissemination of information.
Which AI companies are buying Brave's News Corp summaries?
Despite the detailed accusations in the Oakland filing, several critical details remain missing. Specifically, the reporting does not name the specific "AI companies" that are purchasing the processed content from Brave Software, nor does it disclose the exact pricing models Brave uses for these transactions.
Furthermore, while Brave Software claims to be the smallest of the three U.S.-based independent search engines operating at scale, the identity of the other two competitors is not specified in the current proceedings. It remains unclear if those other entities are employing similar scraping-and-resale strategies.
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