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Rolling Stone owner Penske Media sues Google over AI summaries | TechCrunch

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  Published in Business and Finance on Sunday, September 14th 2025 at 14:19 GMT by TechCrunch
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Rolling Stone’s Parent Penske Media Sues Google Over AI‑Generated Summaries

On September 14 2025, TechCrunch reported that Penske Media Corp.—the owner of Rolling Stone, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter—filed a federal lawsuit against Google, alleging that the tech giant is unlawfully using the magazine’s copyrighted articles to generate and display AI‑powered summaries in its search results. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Google of copyright infringement, breach of contract, and unfair competition, and seeks both monetary damages and an injunction to halt the use of Rolling Stone content in its AI systems.

The Heart of the Dispute

At the core of the suit is Google’s “Featured Summaries” feature, introduced in late 2024, which pulls the first few sentences of an article—often from a variety of sources—into a concise, AI‑crafted preview that appears in the top‑position “Knowledge Panel” of Google Search. Rolling Stone’s editorial team contends that Google’s summarizations are not mere quotations; they are derivative works that re‑pack the magazine’s copyrighted text in a way that Google has never been licensed to do. According to the complaint, the summaries are generated by training large language models (LLMs) on Rolling Stone’s content and then prompting those models to produce condensed versions for users. Because the summaries are not identical to the original text and often paraphrase the content, Penske claims that they are “transformative” yet still infringe on its exclusive rights.

Google, for its part, maintains that the summaries are produced under the doctrine of “fair use.” The company’s spokesperson said that the summarizations are “transformative and serve a public benefit by providing quick access to information.” Google also argues that the summaries are brief and that users are directed to the original article for the full context, thereby providing a “gateway” to the publisher’s revenue stream.

Why This Is More Than a One‑Time Clash

The lawsuit follows a pattern of tensions between publishers and AI developers over the use of copyrighted text for training purposes. In 2023, Variety filed a similar suit against Google, alleging that the search engine used Variety’s content to train its AI models for the “Google News” and “AI” features. Variety’s lawyers argued that Google had violated a licensing agreement and was profiting from the publisher’s creative work without compensation. Variety and Google eventually settled, but the details of that settlement were not made public.

Penske Media’s complaint also references the prior Variety lawsuit, suggesting that Google’s recent foray into AI summarization is an extension of the same “misuse” pattern. Penske is not only seeking damages for the current issue; it is also demanding a broader injunction that would bar Google from using Rolling Stone content for any AI training or summarization without explicit permission.

Potential Legal and Industry Implications

If the court sides with Penske, it could set a precedent that forces AI developers to secure licensing agreements with publishers before training LLMs on their content. It may also compel Google to modify its Featured Summaries feature or to develop a new policy that requires publishers to grant permission explicitly. A ruling in favor of Google, on the other hand, would reinforce the industry’s reliance on the fair‑use doctrine to justify the use of copyrighted text for training AI models.

The case also feeds into a broader debate over the need for a clear, codified framework governing the use of copyrighted text in AI. Some publishers have called for a “fair‑use” licensing model, wherein AI companies pay a fee based on usage metrics rather than on a per‑article basis. Others argue that such a model would stifle innovation, especially for smaller AI startups that cannot afford large licensing fees.

The Current Status of the Case

The complaint alleges 20 claims, including 12 for copyright infringement and 8 for unfair competition, and requests $200 million in damages. Penske also seeks a preliminary injunction that would prohibit Google from displaying AI‑summarized content derived from Rolling Stone’s articles in the next 90 days. Google’s legal team has indicated that they will challenge the lawsuit and is preparing a counter‑motion arguing that the court should dismiss the claims as lacking a legal basis.

As the litigation unfolds, the tech press is watching closely. TechCrunch’s article notes that the lawsuit was filed in the same courtroom where the earlier Variety case was heard, suggesting that the judge may bring in similar arguments. Industry analysts predict that the outcome could influence the next round of negotiations between major publishers and the likes of Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, all of whom rely on large amounts of text to train their models.

Broader Context

The case comes amid a growing push from publishers to protect their content in the era of generative AI. Many journalists have raised concerns that AI models “memorize” copyrighted text and then regurgitate it as “original” content, potentially diluting the value of the original work. Google’s “Featured Summaries” feature, intended to make search results more useful, has already been criticized by some as a shortcut that displaces the original articles. The Penske lawsuit is the most high‑profile legal challenge to date aimed at curbing such use without consent.

Whether the court will view the summarizations as a “transformative” use that merits fair‑use protection, or as a derivative work that requires explicit licensing, remains to be seen. The decision will likely be followed closely by other publishers who have not yet filed lawsuits but are considering legal action. For now, Google and Penske Media are locked in a high‑stakes legal battle that could shape the future of AI content generation and the rights of publishers in the digital age.