Perplexity AI moves to dismiss CNN copyright and trademark infringement claims
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Perplexity AI filed a memorandum of law in federal court seeking to toss four counts of a lawsuit brought by Cable News Network over its AI-generated search results.
Perplexity AI, Inc. has filed a motion to dismiss four counts of a lawsuit brought by Cable News Network, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The filing, dated August 21, 2026, targets CNN's claims regarding copyright and trademark infringement. The legal action was first reported by CourtListener, which published the defendant's memorandum of law. Perplexity is asking the court to dismiss Counts II, III, IV, and V of the complaint. The memorandum describes the Perplexity platform as an answer engine that combines artificial intelligence with live internet search. Perplexity argues its system synthesizes information from hundreds of billions of webpages, including those published by CNN, to generate natural language responses for users. ## The Copyright Defense
Perplexity argues that CNN hasn't plausibly alleged direct copyright infringement for its engine's outputs. According to the memorandum, the complaint lacks specific facts for the majority of the copyrights CNN claims were violated. The filing further asserts that CNN's claims of contributory and vicarious copyright infringement don't meet the legal standard for a plausible case. Perplexity cites several precedents, including Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, to argue it isn't liable for how its system handles data. The defense maintains that its engine automatically generates responses that incorporate facts from reliable sources. It states these outputs include links to the underlying information so users can navigate to the source. ## Trademark and Fair Use
The motion also challenges CNN's trademark claims. Perplexity states its engine doesn't claim a false affiliation with the news network. Instead, the company argues that any references to CNN marks constitute nominative fair use. Perplexity characterizes the news organization's allegations of trademark dilution as conclusory. The filing argues that the engine identifies the source of facts rather than infringing on the brand. ## Legal Precedent and Standard
Perplexity's legal team, led by John Quinn, relies on a series of case citations to argue that the complaint fails under the standards established in Ashcroft v. Iqbal and Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly. These cases require plaintiffs to provide enough factual matter to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face. The memorandum highlights that the answer engine's primary function is to transform the way people obtain information. Perplexity claims this innovation is supported by intellectual property law rather than prohibited by it. The case, Cable News Network Inc v. Perplexity AI, Inc., carries the docket number 1:26-cv-04427-LAP. The motion to dismiss specifically seeks to remove the secondary copyright claims and the trademark allegations from the ongoing litigation.