
The "We Didn't Know" Defense: How AI Companies Avoid Copyright Liability
AI companies claim innocent infringement because they 'didn't know' whose content they scraped. Here's how this defense works—and how publishers can eliminate it.
What Encypher does: Insights from the Co-Chair of the C2PA Text Provenance Task Force on AI content authentication, content attribution, and licensing infrastructure. Standard publishes January 8, 2026.
Who it's for: Publishers seeking licensing strategies, AI labs exploring compliance, legal professionals interested in content attribution, and developers building with our API and SDKs.
Key differentiator: Written by the team co-chairing C2PA (c2pa.org) with NYT, BBC, AP, Google, OpenAI, Adobe, Microsoft and others - insider perspective on standards development.
Primary value: Stay informed on market licensing frameworks, regulatory developments, and technical innovations in cryptographic watermarking.
From the Authors of the C2PA Text StandardFrom the Authors of the C2PA Text Standard: Building Infrastructure for the AI Content Economy.

AI companies claim innocent infringement because they 'didn't know' whose content they scraped. Here's how this defense works—and how publishers can eliminate it.