Federal Appeals Court Deals Blow to Use of Copyrighted Works to Train AI

AI summary of the source article

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ross Intelligence’s use of copyrighted Westlaw headnotes to train its AI search engine was not fair use, upholding a lower court's summary judgment for Thomson Reuters. The court determined that Ross’ use was minimally transformative and caused market harm by creating a directly competing service that undercut Westlaw’s platform. While marking the first federal appeals court ruling regarding AI and copyright, the court noted Ross’ search engine was not generative, distinguishing the case from other AI copyright disputes. Ross framed the dispute around AI technology's future, but the court characterized it as an ordinary copyright case.

Why it matters

The decision is the first by a federal appeals court regarding AI and copyright, establishing a potential landmark precedent for how fair use applies to training AI on copyrighted material.

Key facts

• The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Thomson Reuters against Ross Intelligence.
• Ross used Westlaw's copyrighted headnotes to train an AI legal search engine that competed with Thomson Reuters.
• The court determined the use was minimally transformative and harmed the market for Thomson Reuters' subscription platform.