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Appeals Court Upholds Thomson Reuters in Landmark AI Copyright Battle Against Ross
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CNBC TV18•29-09-2026, 23:27
Appeals Court Upholds Thomson Reuters in Landmark AI Copyright Battle Against Ross
- •A US appeals court affirmed a ruling favoring Thomson Reuters in its copyright dispute with Ross Intelligence over the alleged misuse of copyrighted material to train an AI-powered legal search engine.
- •The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Ross' argument of fair use regarding material from Thomson Reuters' Westlaw platform, marking a first-of-its-kind ruling in AI training copyright cases.
- •Thomson Reuters' 2020 lawsuit accused Ross Intelligence of copying Westlaw's "headnotes" to train its competing AI-based legal search engine.
- •Ross shut down its platform in 2021, citing the costs associated with the litigation initiated by Thomson Reuters.
- •A federal judge previously rejected Ross' fair use defense, stating that Ross's use of the headnotes was not transformative, leading to Ross's appeal.
Key Questions Answered
A U.S. appeals court upheld a ruling for Thomson Reuters, rejecting Ross Intelligence's argument that its search engine made fair use of Westlaw's headnotes for AI training.
Thomson Reuters accused Ross of misusing thousands of headnotes from its Westlaw platform, which summarize points of law in court opinions, to train a competing AI-based legal search engine.
Ross Intelligence shut down its platform in 2021 by citing the escalating costs associated with Thomson Reuters' litigation.
