Case updates
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Plaintiffs, as appellants, filed their opening brief in an appeal to the Ninth Circuit on the issue of whether §§ 1202(b)(1) and (b)(3) of the DMCA impose an
“identicality” requirement.
Plaintiffs filed oppositions to defendants’ motions to dismiss the second amended complaint.
Plaintiffs filed a motion for leave to file a motion for reconsideration concerning the Court’s earlier order on defendants’ previous motions to dismiss.
Consistent with the Court’s order of January 22, Plaintiffs filed their second amended complaint.
On November 9, 2023, the Court held a hearing on the motions to dismiss filed by Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI on June 29. In its order following the hearing, the Court allowed the plaintiffs’ breach-of-contract claims to continue. The Court also agreed that the plaintiffs have standing to proceed with claims for damages. The Court dismissed some of plaintiffs’ other state-law claims as being preempted by the U.S. Copyright Act. The Court restricted the application of the DMCA, but gave plaintiffs permission to amend their DMCA claim in a second amended complaint.
Plaintiffs filed oppositions to defendants’ motions to dismiss the first amended complaint.
Microsoft / GitHub and OpenAI filed motions to dismiss Plaintiffs’ first amended complaint.
Consistent with the Court’s order of May 11, Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint.
Plaintiffs’ administrative motion to file under seal portions of first amended complaint
Declaration of Travis Manfredi in support of motion to file under seal
On Thursday May 4, the Court held a hearing on the motions to dismiss filed by Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI, as well as a motion filed by the plaintiffs to preserve their anonymity. In its order following the hearing, the Court largely allowed the plaintiffs’ complaint to move forward, agreeing that the plaintiffs have standing to proceed with claims for injunctive relief and upholding the sufficiency of most of plaintiffs’ substantive claims.
Of particular significance, the Court completely denied defendants’ efforts to dismiss two of plaintiffs’ most significant claims, namely the breach of open-source licenses (see p.22 of the order) and the removal of copyright-management information under DMCA § 1202(b)(1) and § 1202(b)(3) (see p.21).
Beyond that, as is common in cases like this, the Court has given the plaintiffs permission to address remaining pleading issues by filing an amended complaint (by June 8). The plaintiffs also prevailed on their motion to preserve their anonymity (see p.14).
Overall we consider this a positive ruling for the plaintiffs and an important first step in the litigation. The Court has set a case-management conference for July 11, 2023 at which time the parties will discuss a discovery plan and setting a schedule for future events in the case.
Plaintiffs filed oppositions to these motions to dismiss.
Microsoft / GitHub and OpenAI filed motions to dismiss Plaintiffs’ complaint.
Second complaint filed on behalf of two more plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs would later consolidate the two complaints into a single complaint.
Initial complaint filed on behalf of two plaintiffs.