The court denied in part Nvidia’s motion to dismiss a proposed class action, with a first-year associate playing a central role in the arguments on behalf of the authors.
Susman Godfrey secured a favorable ruling on behalf of a group of authors after a California federal court denied in part NVIDIA’s motion to dismiss a proposed class action alleging unlawful use of their copyrighted works to train its NeMO Megatron and other large language models.
The authors initially filed in March of 2024, raising claims that NVIDIA knowingly trained its models on a dataset dubbed “The Pile” that included unlawfully obtained copies of their works. Susman Godfrey later amended the complaint, adding claims that NVIDIA downloaded books from an illicit library called Anna’s Archive and asserting that NVIDIA provided software tools to its customers enabling them to more easily download copyrighted books. NVIDIA moved to dismiss the claims of direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement, arguing that the claims should not proceed unless plaintiffs could identify specific instances of infringement tied to NVIDIA-owned LLMs or training data, and that NVIDIA did not contribute to infringement by its customers. The court rejected much of that argument, allowing the bulk of the plaintiffs’ claims to move forward.
Most notably, the ruling marked a standout moment for Susman Godfrey first-year associate Dylan Salzman, who played a key role in the case. Salzman has been litigating the case alongside lead counsel, partner Justin Nelson, and partner Rohit Nath. At the hearing, Salzman went head-to-head with an experienced litigator on complex and novel legal issues, including questions shaped by the Supreme Court’s recent Cox Communications decision—an opinion issued roughly three weeks before the hearing.
Salzman handled the argument so well that it drew praise from U.S District Judge Jon S. Tigar, who applauded Susman Godfrey for positioning an early-career attorney for a significant argument in federal court. Judge Tigar remarked, “It’s really good when I see a firm that recognizes talent and just pushes people out there to do it.”
Susman Godfrey often provides associates with opportunities to serve in leading roles on major trials and high stakes appeals, staying true to late firm founder Stephen Susman’s “you write it, you argue it” ethos.
“We knew Dylan was prepared to handle the motion from the outset,” said Mr. Nelson. “Judge Tigar confirmed what we’ve long believed: When you invest in exceptional lawyers and give them real trial experience early in their careers, you foster a genuine passion and skill for litigation. Susman Godfrey trains trial attorneys to grow and win together. Dylan exemplifies this philosophy. He brought a calm confidence, technical mastery and true trial lawyer’s instinct to a critical moment in the case. We couldn’t be prouder.”
Mr. Nelson, Mr. Nath, and Mr. Salzman represent the group of authors alongside co-counsel from Saveri Law Firm LLP, DiCello Levitt LLP, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, and Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP. The case is Nazemian et al. v. NVIDIA Corporation, case number 4:24-cv-01454, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
