Microsoft Corporation, GitHub, and OpenAI have filed a motion to dismiss a proposed class-action lawsuit regarding AI copyright infringement of open-source code used to train their artificial intelligence systems.

The companies argue that:

• The complaint lacks specific allegations and evidence of injury
• GitHub's Copilot system falls under fair use doctrine
• The plaintiffs need to outline their allegations more precisely

The lawsuit, filed in November by anonymous copyright owners, claims that:

• The companies trained Copilot using GitHub code without proper compliance with open-source licensing terms
• Copilot unlawfully reproduces their code
• The system aims to replace open-source code by keeping it behind a GitHub-controlled paywall

In their defense, the companies cite the 2021 US Supreme Court decision that ruled Google's use of Oracle source code as transformative fair use. GitHub maintains they have been "committed to innovating responsibly with Copilot from the start."

Microsoft's legal team emphasizes that the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate specific injuries resulting from the companies' actions, and that the copyright allegations conflict with established fair use doctrine, which permits unlicensed use of copyrighted works in certain circumstances.

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