EU Court Adviser Warns Gemini May Infringe Copyright

An adviser to the European Union’s top court said Google’s Gemini chatbot could infringe press publishers’ copyright when it reuses recognizable protected expression from news articles to answer users, including in some cases where it bypasses paywalls or technical restrictions. The opinion stems from a case brought by Hungarian publisher Like Company, which alleges Gemini used its articles without permission. Szpunar said copyright protects a publication’s particular expression, not the facts it reports, and distinguished chatbot outputs from AI training, which he said is generally allowed under the EU’s text-and-data-mining exception unless publishers opt out. The opinion is nonbinding, and the court will issue the final ruling.