The US Department of Justice filed a statement supporting OpenAI and Microsoft in the New York Times copyright lawsuit. It argues training models on copyrighted works counts as fair use because the practice is new and transformative. It says model outputs are not necessarily covered by the same legal argument. No career antitrust attorneys signed the filing alongside senior DOJ officials. The move surprised the US Patent and Trademark Office and the Copyright Office. Publishers have criticised the DOJ’s claims. The Copyright Office’s former director was fired last year and is suing to block the move. The DOJ has a history of supporting AI firms in media-related legal cases.