Judge Stein sets new briefing deadline for Times claims v OpenAI

Judge Stein issued an order in the OpenAI MDL addressing a gap in the News Plaintiffs' prior briefing, according to ChatGPT Is Eating the World. The order states that if News Plaintiffs intend to pursue their grounding and output summary judgment claims against OpenAI, they must do so by November 25, 2026. OpenAI's opposition is due December 11, 2026, with any reply due December 18, 2026.

The order also notes that News Plaintiffs' failure to seek summary judgment on these claims in the initial round undermines the court-ordered word limit for summary judgment motions set out in Dkt. No. 1664. Per the order, News Plaintiffs and OpenAI will each have 7,500 words for their respective briefs in support and in opposition, and 2,500 words for any reply brief.

The outlet noted it appears the New York Times and News Plaintiffs failed to pursue summary judgment on these claims in the initial round of briefing, which appears to have drawn criticism from Judge Stein in the order.

Here's what the order actually tells you, stripped of guesswork: News Plaintiffs have until November 25, 2026 to file for summary judgment on the grounding and output claims, if they want to pursue them at all. OpenAI then has until December 11, 2026 to oppose, and any reply from News Plaintiffs is due December 18, 2026. Three dates, one tight run of six weeks between the first and the last.

The word-count detail is worth sitting with. Judge Stein's order ties this new filing window to the court-ordered word limit set in Dkt. No. 1664 — 7,500 words for opening briefs on each side, 2,500 for any reply. The order states plainly that News Plaintiffs' failure to raise these claims the first time around undermines that limit. That's the court noting a structural problem with how the earlier round was handled, not a punishment attached to the new deadline.

What this means for you if you're tracking this litigation: the clock the court just set is the only fact to bank on here. November 25 is when the motion has to be filed if it's coming. December 11 and December 18 are when the responses land. Nothing in the order tells us what happens to the grounding and output claims if that November 25 date is missed — and I won't pretend otherwise, because that's exactly the kind of guess that gets authors burned when they repeat it as settled fact.

My advice this week is simple: put November 25, 2026 on your calendar if you're following this case, and don't read more into the order than Judge Stein wrote. The scheduling criticism is real. What it means for the underlying claims, if the deadline slips, isn't something this order answers.