A federal judge in Delaware has determined that a jury must decide the outcome of a lawsuit filed by Thomson Reuters, which accuses the company Ross Intelligence of illegally copying content from its legal research platform Westlaw to train a competing AI-based platform. The decision made by U.S. District Judge Stephanos Bibas on Monday paves the way for what could be one of the first trials concerning the unauthorized use of data to train AI systems.
Technology companies such as Meta Platforms, Stability AI, and Microsoft-backed OpenAI are also facing lawsuits from authors, visual art professionals, and other copyright holders regarding the use of their works to train the respective companies’ generative AI software.
A spokesperson for Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters News, stated that they look forward to presenting evidence to a jury. The spokesperson emphasized, "This case still pertains to Ross's theft of Thomson Reuters' commentary, analysis, and regulatory system." They added, "We have sought a summary judgment on selected issues because we believe the facts of the case are clear-cut."
In a lawsuit filed by Thomson Reuters in 2020, Ross Intelligence was accused of copying the "key notes" from the Westlaw platform, which summarize legal points in court opinions. Thomson Reuters also accused Ross of misusing thousands of these summaries to train its AI-based legal search engine. Ross announced that it shut down its platform in January 2021, attributing the decision to the costs of the “frivolous” lawsuit. Reuters has not been able to confirm whether this closure occurred.
Ross argues that it used the content on Westlaw fairly, raising what could be a pivotal question in legal disputes concerning generative AI training. Ross claimed it used the notes "as a means of identifying judicial opinions," and asserted that the company did not compete in the market for the same materials. Thomson Reuters responded by stating that Ross copied the materials to build a direct competitor to Westlaw.
