Media holding company Penske Media, which owns publications such as Rolling Stone, Variety, and Billboard, filed a federal lawsuit against Google on September 14, 2025. The lawsuit alleges that the "AI Overviews" feature infringes on copyright by creating unauthorized derivative works (summaries) from their journalistic content and displaying them above search results. This is the first such lawsuit from a major U.S. publisher. Penske claims this practice causes direct financial harm: referral traffic to their sites has significantly decreased, and affiliate revenue (a key monetization source for many publications) has dropped by more than a third. Additionally, Penske accuses Google of unfair competition, alleging that Google coerces publishers into allowing their content to be used in AI summaries under the threat of being excluded from search results. This lawsuit marks a shift from public complaints to a direct legal confrontation that could define the future of online journalism.
Penske Media Sues Google Over AI Overviews Feature
