Source: Bloomberg Law

OpenAI must produce testimony from depositions in its recent trial with Elon Musk and X.AI for use in a separate, consolidated set of copyright lawsuits, a federal magistrate judge in the Southern District of New York ruled. Depositions from Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Satya Nadella and the OpenAI entity designee were found potentially relevant to whether OpenAI’s use of copyrighted works is commercial for the first fair-use factor, and Magistrate Judge Ona Wang determined production was not unduly burdensome after plaintiffs narrowed their request. The order could impair OpenAI’s attempts to minimize the commercial nature of its training practices across 19 consolidated cases.

The petitioners previously sought portions of Brockman’s notebook, leading Wang to order limited diary production in March, and renewed requests for several Musk-case depositions were later reduced to four. OpenAI objected by arguing both that plaintiffs hadn’t shown inconsistencies and that plaintiffs misinterpreted testimony; Wang observed that only OpenAI possesses the full deposition transcripts, making OpenAI’s misinterpretation defense reliant on the court accepting its version over the plaintiffs’. Wang also stated that even if testimony proved consistent, evidence of commercialization remains relevant to the fair-use inquiry. The summary lists plaintiffs’ and defendants’ law firms and cites the consolidated S.D.N.Y. docket: In Re: OpenAI, Inc. Copyright Infringement Litig., No. 1:25-md-03143.