NEW YORK (BN24) — A federal judge has dismissed President Donald Trump’s high-profile copyright lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward and publishing giant Simon & Schuster, ruling that Trump failed to demonstrate he holds any legal ownership over the interview recordings featured in the 2022 audiobook The Trump Tapes.
U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe of the Southern District of New York issued the ruling Friday, declaring that Trump’s legal team did not plausibly argue that he has a copyright claim over the 20 interviews he voluntarily gave to Woodward between 2016 and 2020. The audiobook, compiled and released by Woodward in 2022, featured those interviews in full and became a major political flashpoint.
While the judge gave Trump 30 days to submit an amended complaint, Gardephe emphasized in his 81-page ruling that “it appears unlikely” Trump could make a credible case that he shares authorship or ownership rights in the recordings.
Trump filed the lawsuit in January 2023, seeking nearly $50 million in damages. He claimed the recordings were used without his permission and constituted “protected material” not intended for public distribution. His legal team argued that Woodward’s use of the interviews—originally conducted for Woodward’s books including Rage—violated copyright protections.
Woodward and Simon & Schuster dismissed the suit as meritless from the outset and vowed to defend their right to publish. On Friday, the publisher welcomed the ruling.
“We’re very pleased the Court agreed with us and dismissed the case,” Simon & Schuster said in a statement.
The ruling landed the same day Trump filed an unrelated lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, escalating his ongoing legal battles with major media organizations. The former president, who is once again running for office, has repeatedly clashed with journalists and publishers over their portrayals of his presidency and public comments.
In the courtroom, Judge Gardephe made clear that consent to interviews does not equate to shared ownership over the recordings. His ruling noted that Trump offered no substantial legal precedent supporting his claim to joint authorship, and Woodward’s work stood as a product of independent journalism.
With the dismissal, Trump faces a decision on whether to try to revive the claim with new legal arguments or abandon the challenge altogether. For now, the case marks another failed effort in his broader campaign against the media’s use of his own words.
