Apple sued for allegedly using copyrighted books to train AI

Apple has been sued by authors Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson for allegedly using their copyrighted books to train its AI systems without consent or compensation. The lawsuit claims that Apple copied protected works without credit or payment, following a trend of cases against tech companies for violating intellectual property protections in the AI era.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is facing a lawsuit from authors Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson, who allege that the tech giant used their copyrighted books to train its AI systems without consent or compensation. The lawsuit, which follows a trend of cases against tech companies for violating intellectual property protections in the AI era, claims that Apple copied protected works without credit or payment.

The lawsuit, filed in August 2025, is the latest in a series of legal disputes involving AI companies and copyright owners. In a similar case, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by a group of authors alleging that the AI company illegally pirated their copyrighted books to use in training its Claude AI models [2].

The lawsuit against Apple comes at a time when the company is making significant strides in its AI strategy. Apple's latest rally pushed NASDAQ:AAPL up nearly 4% to $239.78, driven by reports of an in-house AI search platform, World Knowledge Answers, which aims to overhaul Siri, Spotlight, and Safari [1]. This move is part of Apple's broader strategy to reclaim ground in the AI race after years of dependence on OpenAI's ChatGPT integration.

Despite the lawsuit, Apple's stock remains strong, with the company reporting record financial performance in Q2 2025. Apple closed Q2 with revenue of $94.04 billion, up 9.6% year-on-year, and net income of $23.43 billion. Profit margins remain strong at 24.3%, with return on equity at an extraordinary 149.81% [1]. The company's strong financial position, coupled with its AI push, positions it as one of the few mega-caps capable of reigniting double-digit growth.

The lawsuit against Apple highlights the ongoing tension between creators and AI developers. AI companies have been pushing for fair use exceptions as they train their models, but without clear legislation guiding how companies can develop and train AI, court cases like these are shaping the future of the products people use daily.

References:
[1] https://www.tradingnews.com/news/apple-stock-price-forecast-aapl-price-near-239-usd
[2] https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/anthropic-will-pay-1-5-billion-to-authors-in-landmark-ai-piracy-lawsuit/