Key holding or allegation
Plaintiff-side allegations only. Folha reported that the judge ordered Perplexity to respond within 72 hours; no substantive merits ruling or primary complaint was publicly verified by 9 Sep.
Why it matters
Significant Brazilian publisher-versus-AI-search dispute combining training, RAG/output substitution, access controls and a requested model-destruction remedy.
Facts
Folha reports that it sued Perplexity in São Paulo over unauthorised collection and use of journalism for AI training and answer generation, including subscriber-only content, and alleged circumvention of paywall and technical restrictions.
Issues before the court
Whether alleged scraping/training and answer generation infringe copyright or constitute unfair competition, and whether circumvention and model-destruction remedies are available.
What the court did not decide
Exact docket/court, liability, infringement, unfair competition, circumvention, damages and model-destruction relief remain unresolved.
Procedural timeline
São Paulo state court - exact court not publicly verified
Complaint filed / filing publicly reported: Folha reported filing a São Paulo action alleging unauthorised use of journalism for training and answer generation, paywall circumvention and unfair competition, and seeking damages, injunctive relief and destruction of models allegedly trained on its material.