Overview

• Asahi Shimbun and Nikkei filed a joint lawsuit in Tokyo District Court on August 26 seeking ¥4.4 billion in damages plus a court order to stop unlicensed use of their articles.
• They allege Perplexity copied, saved, and reproduced their content without permission since at least June 2024, including Yahoo-distributed pieces and subscriber-only articles.
• The complaint argues these practices infringe reproduction and public-transmission rights under Japanese law.
• The newspapers also claim Perplexity’s answers sometimes cite them while presenting false information that differs from their articles, harming trust in their reporting.
• Yomiuri Shimbun lodged a separate suit on August 7 seeking about ¥2.1 billion, underscoring a broader push by news organizations in Japan and overseas to challenge AI firms’ use of journalistic content.