Suing AI Scrapers: A New Fee-Shifting Claim and the Rights It Requires

Christopher E. Hart, Counsel | Anderson & Kreiger LLP

Christopher E. Hart advises organizations on risk where technology, data, and regulation meet, with a practice spanning privacy, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies. He works with clients ranging from startups to global enterprises on compliance strategy, data incident response, and investigations, including under frameworks such as the GDPR and the CCPA. He also represents clients in high-stakes disputes and government investigations arising from data security incidents and regulatory scrutiny. A certified privacy professional (CIPP/US, CIPP/E, CIPM), he is a frequent speaker and writer on privacy, cybersecurity, and AI legal developments.

• Education & Credentials

Chris earned his J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Duke University School of Law in 2005, an M.A. from St. John’s College in 2002, and a B.A. from Harvard University in 2000. He is admitted to the bars of Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and Maryland, and his court admissions include the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Third, Fourth, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuits. He holds the CIPP/US, CIPP/E, and CIPM certifications and served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Anthony J. Scirica, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

• Recognition & Leadership

Chris has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America for Privacy and Data Security Law (2024-2026) and Artificial Intelligence Law (2026), and by Super Lawyers for Civil Litigation (2025-26). Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly named him a “Go To Lawyer” for Cyber/Data Security in 2024, and Boston Magazine has listed him as a Top Lawyer in Civil Litigation Defense (2021), Commercial Litigation (2022), and Criminal Law Litigation (2023). He also received a JD Supra Readers’ Choice Award as a top author in the field of cybersecurity (2017).

• Professional Involvement

Chris serves as Vice President of the Boston Bar Association, where he previously served as Treasurer (2024) and chaired the Privacy, Data Security, and Digital Rights Conference (2022). He served as President/Governor of Region 1 (New England) of the Hispanic National Bar Association (2023-25) and currently serves as a Deputy Governor. He sits on the Advisory Board of the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Privacy Bar Section (2019-present), is a member of the Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Appellate Procedure (2022-present), and teaches as an adjunct professor in Northeastern University’s Doctorate of Law and Public Policy Program.

• Experience

Chris advises the Northeastern Institute for Experiential AI on AI legal requirements and regulations, conducted a state-by-state survey of consumer privacy laws and laws limiting the use of AI in businesses on behalf of a software company, and analyzed new comprehensive state data protection laws against HIPAA and the GDPR for a health insurance company. He conducted a Human Rights Impact Assessment for Microsoft relating to cloud and artificial intelligence technologies, and obtained a full recovery for a major international investment firm that suffered a multimillion-dollar loss in a payment fraud hack. He regularly represents organizations in disputes and government investigations arising from data security incidents.

SESSION 1 – Suing AI Scrapers and Recovering Statutory Damages | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

This session examines the emerging litigation strategy of bringing DMCA §1201 anti-circumvention claims against AI scrapers, including the statutory damages and fee-shifting remedies available under 17 U.S.C. §1203. Attorneys will analyze the leading pending cases — Reddit v. SerpApi, Google v. SerpApi, Bartz v. Anthropic, and the YouTube creator lawsuits — to understand how courts are evaluating circumvention theories, CMI stripping under §1202, and parallel CFAA and state-law tracks. Attendees will leave with a working framework for choosing the right cause of action, building a circumvention evidence record, and calculating per-act statutory damages in high-volume scraping disputes.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Building Defensible Content Rights Before the Scraping Claim | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

This session covers the transactional and IP preparatory steps content owners must take before a scraping lawsuit is viable — from timely copyright registration and enforceable terms of service to DMCA § 1201 technical protection measures and clean rights chains. Attorneys will learn how recent case law, including X Corp. v. Bright Data and Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence, reshapes the enforceability of common content-protection strategies. Attendees leave with a concrete pre-suit documentation framework and an understanding of the contractual and technical infrastructure required to maximize recovery against AI scrapers.