Boston College finance professor Alan Marcus is among six textbook authors suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement. The proposed class action claims the companies trained artificial intelligence models on pirated textbooks. A proposed class action is a lawsuit filed for a larger group that a court must later approve as a class. This case covers similarly situated textbook authors, not students or general ChatGPT users.
Official resources:
- Read the official notice from Torrentfreak — Use this primary source to verify the official announcement.
- Read the official notice from Aistartupsnews — Use this primary source to verify the official announcement.
Table of Contents
- Who sued and where the case stands
- What the authors say happened
- What evidence and harm are claimed
- Is there money to claim now
Who sued and where the case stands
Alan Marcus holds the Mario J. Gabelli endowed finance chair at Boston College's Carroll School of Management. According to The Heights, he joined five other authors as named plaintiffs in the suit student newspaper account. Lead plaintiff Michael Sullivan represents the putative class of similarly situated textbook authors.
According to AI Startups News, the case was filed Aug. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York case filing report. The defendants are OpenAI and Microsoft. Microsoft is accused of supplying infrastructure and support for model training and profiting from models including ChatGPT and Copilot.
What the authors say happened
The complaint alleges OpenAI took books from pirate sites including Library Genesis. Those copies were allegedly placed in training datasets called Books1 and Books2 and used to train large language models. Textbooks allegedly made up about one-quarter of the copied works.
That share matters because textbooks are revised often, sold by adoption, and reused across courses. The plaintiffs also allege OpenAI stripped copyright notices and identifying information through software. Internal compilations allegedly changed names from LibGen1 and LibGen2 to Books1 and Books2 to hide the pirate-library source.
What evidence and harm are claimed
As direct evidence, the complaint points to ChatGPT's response about Sullivan's precalculus textbook. When asked to explain the first chapter, it allegedly said it would follow the same progression Sullivan uses. The authors claim ongoing market harm from models that keep ingesting new editions.
According to Publishing Perspectives, schools could substitute model answers for assigned textbooks and reduce adoptions publishing industry report. That theory connects copying to lost sales, not only to one-time use. Courts have not decided whether that harm is proven or whether training is fair use.
Is there money to claim now
No settlement fund exists and no claim form is open. The filing seeks class certification, damages, and court orders limiting future use.
That means textbook authors cannot file for payment yet. Readers should watch for three later events: certification of a class, a settlement, or a trial judgment. If you write or co-author a textbook, keep a simple file now: Do not submit personal documents to any unofficial claim site before a court approves notice procedures.
- publication dates, editions, ISBNs, and publisher contracts
- copyright registrations and renewal records
- adoption lists, royalty statements, and permission denials