Montreal, Quebec — November 25, 2025 — Leads & Copy — La Presse has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the company behind the ChatGPT generative AI model, for unauthorized use of copyrighted content. The lawsuit seeks acknowledgment of and compensation for OpenAI’s use of thousands of La Presse articles to train its AI model without consent or payment.
Patrick Bourbeau, Vice-President, Legal Affairs, La Presse, stated that copyright is a foundational element in their journalists’ and their non-profit organization’s ability to produce thorough, rigorous reporting, which is a pillar of democracy. La Presse invests considerable resources in producing and distributing content from the largest independent French-language newsroom in North America to ensure accessibility to high-quality news and information, free of charge and accessible to everyone.
La Presse alleges that the commercial success of ChatGPT is predicated on repeated copyright infringements without consideration for La Presse’s intellectual property rights. OpenAI profits from La Presse’s news content and investments in its production without bearing any of the costs related to newsgathering, writing, and publication. La Presse contends that the success of ChatGPT would not have been possible without OpenAI’s unauthorized use of La Presse’s resources and those of other media organizations.
Bourbeau emphasized the importance of independent, high-quality journalism in distinguishing facts from fake news, especially given the speed at which disinformation can spread via social media and news platforms lacking credibility. La Presse’s rigorous newsgathering process helps to safeguard against the manipulation of information, which is considered one of the gravest threats to democracy and its institutions.
La Presse’s legal action aims to send a clear message that free access to news and information is not a justification for pillaging content for commercial purposes and that high-quality news and information are a public good.
La Presse’s legal action aligns with a similar lawsuit filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in November 2024 by a coalition of Canadian media organizations, including CBC/Radio-Canada, the Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press, Postmedia, and the Toronto Star. La Presse filed its suit in Québec Superior Court.
La Presse is a French-language digital news media outlet of record in Canada, operating as a not-for-profit organization. It offers quality information free of charge and accessible to all, with its articles published daily in a digital edition for tablets, via its mobile app, and on its website. Its platforms reach four million readers each month and are known for their rich and diversified news coverage, investigations, in-depth reports, and debates. Since launching its philanthropy program in 2019, La Presse has received financial support from over 100,000 donors.
Patrick Bourbeau, Vice-President, Legal Affairs, La Presse, is the contact person for inquiries.
Source: La Presse
