A federal judge in Washington, D.C., will hear arguments this week in a case that could help define the rules of the road for legal AI companies that rely on licensed caselaw data.
The case, Fastcase Inc. v. Alexi Technologies Inc., pending before Judge Richard J. Leon in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, pits Fastcase — now part of Clio following Clio’s $1 billion acquisition of vLex — against Alexi, the Toronto-based legal AI company.
As I reported in December, Fastcase sued Alexi, alleging breach of contract, trademark infringement and trade secret misappropriation relating to Alexi’s use of data licensed from Fastcase.
Alexi responded with counterclaims accusing Fastcase, vLex and Clio of manufacturing breach-of-contract allegations as a pretext to eliminate Alexi as a competitor in the AI legal research market following Clio’s acquisition.
The motions now before the court focus on the contract dispute at the heart of the case. Alexi seeks partial summary judgment on Fastcase’s breach-of-contract claim and on Alexi’s own counterclaims for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and tortious interference with business relations.
Fastcase, vLex and Clio seek partial summary judgment on Fastcase’s breach claim and against those contract-related counterclaims.
The court has scheduled the hearing for July 8 at 3 p.m. Each side will have 20 minutes, with one attorney per side and no demonstratives.
(Go to end for links to the motions and supporting memoranda.)
The Agreement At The Center Of The Case
I should note that, in writing about this, I am relying on the parties’ pleadings and briefs. But virtually all of the filings are heavily redacted, with many pages entirely blacked out. So this report is based on what can be garnered from the unredacted portions.
The dispute centers on a data license agreement that Fastcase and Alexi, then known as Alexsei, entered into in December 2021. Under the agreement, Fastcase licensed U.S. caselaw data to Alexi and agreed to provide daily updates of new federal and state judicial opinions.
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