The First Major Verdict in an AI Copyright Case in the U.S.
(Synopsis)

In an initial court ruling, Thomson Reuters prevailed in the first major AI copyright case within the U.S. The company initiated legal action against Ross Intelligence, a legal AI startup, in 2020, asserting that Ross copied documents from Westlaw, a legal research company owned by it. U.S. District Court of Delaware judge Stephanos Bibas ruled in favor of Thomson Reuters, stating that Ross’s defenses lacked merit. This judgment is pivotal because it establishes that Ross Intelligence’s use of copyrighted content did not qualify under the fair use doctrine, posing a future challenge for other AI firms facing analogous lawsuits. Although this outcome is promising for the copyright holder, its appeal is likely.