Thomson Reuters Wins First Major AI Copyright Case In the US

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Thomson Reuters has won the first major AI copyright case in the United States. In 2020, the media and technology conglomerate filed an unprecedentedAI copyright lawsuit against the legal AI startup Ross Intelligence. In the complaint, Thomson Reuters claimed the AI firm reproduced materials from its legal research firm Westlaw. Today, a judge ruled (PDF) in Thomson Reuters' favor, finding that the company's copyright was indeed infringed by Ross Intelligence's actions. 'None of Ross's possible defenses holds water. I reject them all,' wrote US District Court of Delaware judge Stephanos Bibas, in a summary judgement. Notably, Judge Bibas ruled in Thomson Reuters' favor on the question of fair use.

The fair use doctrine is a key component of how AI companies are seeking to defend themselves against claims that they used copyrighted materials illegally. The idea underpinning fair use is that sometimes it's legally permissible to use copyrighted works without permission -- for example, to create parody works, or in noncommercial research or news production. When determining whether fair use applies, courts use a four-factor test, looking at the reason behind the work, the nature of the work (whether it's poetry, nonfiction, private letters, et cetera), the amount of copyrighted work used, and how the use impacts the market value of the original. Thomson Reuters prevailed on two of the four factors, but Bibas described the fourth as the most important, and ruled that Ross 'meant to compete with Westlaw by developing a market substitute.' 'If this decision is followed elsewhere, it's really bad for the generative AI companies,' says James Grimmelmann, Cornell University professor of digital and internet law.
Chris Mammen, a partner at Womble Bond Dickinson who focuses on intellectual property law, adds: 'It puts a finger on the scale towards holding that fair use doesn't apply.'

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