Meta secured a legal victory on Wednesday in a significant copyright case brought by 13 authors over its Llama AI model.

United States District Judge, Vince Chhabria ruled in Meta’s favour, finding that the company’s use of books to train its large language models falls under the fair use provisions of U.S. copyright law, according to CNBC.

However, the judge emphasized that the decision applies only to this specific case.

Attorneys representing authors Sarah Silverman, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and others argued that Meta violated U.S. copyright law by using their books to train its AI model without consent.

Judge Chhabria acknowledged that copying copyrighted material without permission is “generally illegal,” but ruled that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that Meta’s use of the works caused any meaningful “market harm.”

He noted that their case rested on two arguments, both of which he found unpersuasive.

“On this record Meta has defeated the plaintiffs’ half-hearted argument that its copying causes or threatens significant market harm,” Chhabria said. “That conclusion may be in significant tension with reality.”

The judge stated that Meta’s practice of “copying the work for a transformative purpose” is protected under the fair use doctrine.

“We appreciate today’s decision from the Court,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. “Open-source AI models are powering transformative innovations, productivity and creativity for individuals and companies, and fair use of copyright material is a vital legal framework for building this transformative technology.”

The judge noted that while there may be legitimate arguments that Meta’s data training practices could harm the book market, the plaintiffs failed to make that case effectively.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment.