It seems right that we get AI to lift the info
Google AI
In the ongoing legal battle between Thomson Reuters (Westlaw) and ROSS Intelligence, a significant appeal hearing is approaching as of April 2026. This follows a landmark February 2025 ruling by Judge Stephanos Bibas that initially rejected ROSS’s fair use defense.
Sterne Kessler +2
Sterne Kessler +2The Impending Appeal Hearing
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is reviewing the district court’s decision, making it the first federal appeals court to weigh in on fair use as it applies to AI training data.
Wolters Kluwer
Wolters KluwerA recent development has shifted the spotlight back to the case:
- UpCodes Precedent: In April 2026, the Third Circuit ruled in a separate case involving UpCodes, finding that its publication of copyrighted technical standards (ASTM) was transformative under fair use.
- ROSS’s Strategic Move: ROSS recently filed a letter (April 8, 2026) alerting the Third Circuit to this UpCodes ruling, arguing it provides “genuine guidance” that could lead to a reversal of the judgment in Westlaw’s favor.
MLex +1
Core of the Legal Dispute
The litigation centers on whether ROSS infringed Westlaw’s copyrights by using its headnotes and Key Number System to train a competitive AI legal research tool.
Davis Wright Tremaine +1
Davis Wright Tremaine +1| Factor | District Court Ruling (Feb 2025) |
|---|---|
| Direct Infringement | Found ROSS liable for infringing 2,243 headnotes. |
| Fair Use Factor 1 | Ruled against ROSS; use was commercial and not “transformative” because it served the same purpose as the original (facilitating legal research). |
| Fair Use Factor 4 | Ruled against ROSS; found ROSS aimed to create a “market substitute” and could damage Westlaw’s licensing market for AI training data. |
Why the Ruling Draws Attention
This case is a bellwether for AI developers because it was the first of its kind to explicitly rule against a fair use defense for AI training. While the district court judge noted his analysis applied specifically to non-generative AI (search tools vs. creative content generators), the Third Circuit’s final decision will set a crucial precedent for how the “market impact” of AI training is evaluated.
Davis Wright Tremaine +4
Davis Wright Tremaine +4Do you have questions about how this ruling might impact other generative AI lawsuits involving companies like Anthropic or OpenAI?
