Ninth Circuit Narrows AI Copyright Liability Pathway in Doe v. GitHub

WISECODE Take

Recent US court rulings do not signal a free pass for AI infringement, but rather a narrowing of legal pathways for copyright owners to claim damages. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in September 2026 in Doe v. GitHub, limiting plaintiffs' ability to seek enhanced damages under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This decision shuts down a common ancillary claim, reducing the risk of astronomical damages for AI developers. For businesses merely using APIs to build applications rather than training their own models, this US legal battle has little direct impact. However, for those developing proprietary AI models, Intellectual Class provides patent and copyright portfolio health checks to help evaluate the compliance of training data. We recommend two concrete actions for business owners. First, development teams must properly document and retain licensing information for training data. Second, when procuring external AI services, ensure contracts clearly allocate liability for third-party intellectual property infringement. This ruling is akin to referees clarifying defensive rules; it limits the offensive team's tactical maneuvers, but defenders must still play by the rules.