The US government has filed a legal opinion claiming that copyright violations by AI companies may be acceptable if they allow American firms to develop large language models faster than perceived foreign adversaries. The argument centres on the idea that strict copyright enforcement could hold back domestic AI development.
The statement comes from an amicus curiae brief signed by United States Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. According to the filing, “Rules of law that make it significantly more difficult to develop a robust AI industry in the United States therefore threaten national security and give a competitive advantage to foreign adversaries who are not so encumbered.”
How the Filing Emerged
The case stems from a copyright lawsuit between OpenAI and The New York Times, which prompted the US government to submit its opinion to the courts. OpenAI first advanced similar claims in March 2025, only days after the US government blacklisted Anthropic. OpenAI then took Anthropic’s place as the government and military’s AI of choice.
Woodward’s arguments closely mirror OpenAI’s original complaints about AI training. These include assertions that intellectual property use is necessary because adversaries will not honour copyright, and that the sector is too difficult to regulate effectively.
The Competition Argument
The filing warns that an unfavourable fair use ruling could harm competition, stating that “only the largest technology companies might have the capital necessary to pay licensing fees.” Yet OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google already dominate the market, and these firms have repeatedly complained about smaller AI startups copying their frontier models.
The brief further argues that “the creative possibilities and public benefits that LLM training advances far outweigh any competitive harm,” adding that AI models are reshaping the economy and national security by helping people, including those in creative fields, get things done.
The filing restates arguments that OpenAI and other AI developers have put forward for years. It also arrives alongside news of OpenAI’s involvement with the US military, announced a day earlier. Grok is also being used by the Department of Defense.
While the document is an official government filing, it remains an opinion that the court is free to consider or reject. Woodward, a Trump appointee, was placed in the role after representing defendants connected to the January 6 Capitol attack and Trump’s valet in the classified documents case.
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