The dispute centers on 250-word snippets, alleged blocking evasion and whether Brave’s AI data business substitutes for licensed journalism
News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, argues that the dispute is not merely about search engine indexing. Instead, it concerns the increasingly contested boundary between conventional web search and the commercial distribution of publisher content as data for generative AI services.
According to News Corp, a conventional search engine accesses websites transparently, allows publishers to block its crawlers and displays short excerpts accompanied by links that direct users to the original source.
Jung Han
“Different From Traditional Search”: The 250-Word Snippet Dispute
At the center of News Corp’s allegations is Brave’s “Data for AI API” business.
According to the countersuit, Brave operated web crawlers in ways that made them difficult for publishers to detect or reliably block. News Corp also alleges that Brave provided snippets or summaries of up to approximately 250 words—far longer than those typically displayed in conventional search results.
News Corp characterizes a standard search snippet as roughly 50 words and argues that Brave’s excerpts were about five times longer.
The media company further claims that Brave sold this content to corporate customers, particularly AI companies, putting the search provider in direct competition with News Corp’s own content-licensing business.
According to the filing, Brave supplied content in a form that could be used by digital businesses seeking to combine generative AI services with reliable news streams. News Corp argues that these extended excerpts and summaries could function as substitutes for the original articles.
News Corp says it is not challenging the legitimate appearance of its publications in search results. Rather, it argues that the relevant question is whether a service merely helps users discover an original article or provides a substitute that eliminates the need to visit the publisher’s website or purchase a license.
Brave Filed First as Legal Battle Began in March 2025
Brave initiated the litigation in March 2025 after receiving cease-and-desist letters from News Corp. The company sought a judicial declaration that its indexing of news content and provision of short excerpts and “high-level summaries” qualified as fair use under U.S. copyright law.
The parties subsequently engaged in licensing negotiations for more than a year, but those discussions failed to produce an agreement. Brave filed an amended complaint in May 2026.
Brave argues that indexing news content and making it searchable are fundamental search engine functions. It has also warned that News Corp’s position could impede the development of generative AI technologies.
The company describes itself as the smallest of the three U.S. companies operating independent search engines at scale. Google dominates the U.S. search market, followed by Microsoft’s Bing.
News Corp Seeks Up to $150,000 per Infringed Work
News Corp filed its countersuit in federal court in Oakland, California, alleging that Brave’s undisclosed and unauthorized scraping and commercial resale of its articles fall well outside the boundaries of fair use.
The publisher is seeking injunctive relief, unspecified damages and statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each infringed copyrighted work.
News Corp argues that Brave generates more revenue as it copies and sells greater volumes of publisher content, while simultaneously reducing AI companies’ incentive to negotiate licenses directly with the original news organizations.
Under News Corp’s theory of the case, this business model allows technology companies to capture revenue while excluding publishers from transactions involving their own journalism.
TheWrap reported that News Corp is also seeking a declaration of copyright infringement, a permanent injunction, the destruction of databases containing allegedly infringing material and monetary damages.
These remain allegations and requested remedies contained in News Corp’s filing. The court has not determined that Brave infringed News Corp’s copyrights or is liable for damages.
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson criticized Brave’s conduct as a “shoddy tech trading” practice that undermines the sustainability of journalism and the broader information-distribution ecosystem.
Brave and its legal representatives did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment outside regular business hours.
Industry Implications: Drawing the Line Between Search and an AI Substitute
The litigation illustrates how the rules governing the use of news content in AI systems are being shaped simultaneously through licensing agreements and courtroom disputes.
A central question is whether a technology company can still characterize its service as conventional search when it provides links to original articles but also supplies extended excerpts or summaries that may replace a reader’s visit to the publisher—and sells those materials as a separate data product.
The outcome could require AI search services, summarization platforms and data API providers to exercise greater control over crawler identification, publishers’ ability to opt out, snippet length, referral traffic and the commercial resale of extracted content.
If Brave prevails, however, courts could recognize a broader scope for technology companies to index and summarize publicly available web content under the fair-use doctrine.
Sources
- TheWrap Pro — Alyssa Ray, “News Corp Countersues Search Engine Brave for AI Copyright Infringement.” The article was reconstructed from reporting on News Corp’s countersuit and allegations.
- Reuters — Jonathan Stempel, “News Corp countersues Brave for allegedly ‘scraping’ articles for AI.” Used to verify the litigation timeline, court jurisdiction, requested damages and Brave’s position.