US authors' copyright lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft combined in New York with newspaper actions

A transfer order made by the US judicial panel on multidistrict litigation on Thursday said that centralisation will "allow a single judge to coordinate discovery, streamline pretrial proceedings, and eliminate inconsistent rulings". Cases brought in California by prominent authors including Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michael Chabon, Junot Díaz and the comedian Sarah Silverman will be transferred to New York and joined with cases brought by news outlets, including the New York Times, and other authors including John Grisham, George Saunders, Jonathan Franzen and Jodi Picoult. Most of the plaintiffs opposed consolidation, arguing that their cases were too different to be combined. OpenAI had proposed consolidating the cases in northern California. The judicial panel ultimately transferred the cases to the southern district of New York, stating that centralisation would "serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses" and "promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation".