Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster have filed a lawsuit against Perplexity for allegedly reproducing their definitions.

The lawsuit claims that Perplexity copied the definition of the term 'plagiarize' from Merriam-Webster.

The AI web search firm Perplexity is facing yet another lawsuit, this time from Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, alleging copyright and trademark violations. Britannica, a publisher with a long history that owns Merriam-Webster, filed the lawsuit against Perplexity in a federal court in New York on September 10th.

In the legal complaint, the companies claim that Perplexity’s "answer engine" scrapes their websites, diverts their internet traffic, and plagiarizes their copyrighted content. Britannica further claims trademark infringement when Perplexity associates the names of the two companies with fabricated or incomplete content.

The term "plagiarize" underscores the essence of the lawsuit. The court filing includes consecutive screenshots demonstrating that Perplexity’s output is identical to the definition provided by Merriam-Webster.

Perplexity positions itself as a competitor to Google Search. It has been labeled a "bullshit machine" for appropriating and reproducing original content without appropriate citations. The AI firm is also accused of "stealth crawling" websites that employ crawler blockers, a tactic utilized by other AI companies.

Supported by investors such as Jeff Bezos, Perplexity has had disputes with various media organizations, including Forbes, The New York Times, and the BBC. In October 2024, News Corp, the parent organization of outlets like The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, initiated legal action against Perplexity.

Several media companies have participated in Perplexity’s ad revenue sharing initiative, including Time magazine and the Los Angeles Times. Additionally, another well-known encyclopedia, World History Encyclopedia, became part of Perplexity’s publisher program, and on September 8th, it introduced a Perplexity-powered AI chatbot that enables users to explore the encyclopedia’s database of sources and academic articles.