Key holding or allegation
Plaintiff allegations remain unproved. On 25 Sep 2026 the S.D.N.Y. court transferred the action to the Northern District of California under the first-filed analysis; it did not decide copyright merits.
Why it matters
Major publisher action that may test post-Kadrey pleading and proof concerning alleged shadow-library acquisition, licensing markets and outputs.
Facts
Five publishers and author Scott Turow allege Meta and Mark Zuckerberg copied books and journal articles from shadow libraries and web datasets to train Llama and generated verbatim or near-verbatim substitutes.
Issues before the court
Whether alleged acquisition, training and output conduct infringes copyright or violates the DMCA, and whether fair use applies.
What the court did not decide
The transfer order did not decide infringement, fair use, CMI liability, damages or class certification.
Procedural timeline
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Complaint filed: Publishers and Scott Turow alleged unlawful acquisition and use of books and journals for Llama training and outputs.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Transfer order: Court transferred the action to N.D. Cal. and administratively closed the New York docket under a first-filed analysis.