A Win for Thomson Reuters in its Copyright Infringement Lawsuit against Ross Intelligence

Issue 17 

There was big news this week in the copyright infringement lawsuit Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GMBH et al. v. Ross Intelligence Inc. On February 11, 2025, the Hon. Stephanos Bibas granted in part Thomson Reuters’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on its claim for direct copyright infringement and related defenses, as well as its motion for partial summary judgment on the fair use defense, and denied Ross Intelligence’s motion for summary judgment as to Thomson Reuters’ copyright claims, and its motion for summary judgment on its affirmative defense of fair use. Order at 1, Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GMBH et al. v. Ross Intelligence Inc., No. 1:20-cv-00613 (D. Del. filed May 6, 2020). 

In his memorandum opinion, the Hon. Stephanos Bibas stated that he was revising his 2023 summary judgment opinion and order to grant most of Thomson Reuter’s motion for partial summary judgment on direct copyright infringement, finding that Ross infringed 2,243 of Thomson Reuters’ headnotes, leaving only the factual issue of whether some of the copyrights had expired in relation to those headnotes. Memorandum Opinion at 2, 5, Thomson Reuters. The Hon. Stephanos Bibas further noted that he was granting summary judgment only on headnotes where substantial similarity was so obvious that no reasonable jury could find otherwise, leaving the rest of the headnotes for trial, and was not granting summary judgment to Ross Intelligence on any headnotes, finding that there were none for which he was confident a reasonable jury could not find infringement. Id. at 14. Further, the Hon. Stephanos Bibas explained that all of Ross Intelligence’s defenses failed, including innocent infringement, copyright misuse, merger, scenes à faire, and most notably, fair use. Id. at 14-15. In his analysis of Ross Intelligence’s fair use defense, the judge noted that only non-generative AI was at issue in this opinion. Id. at 19.  

As background to the order described above, this lawsuit was filed in 2020 by plaintiffs Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH and West Publishing Corporation it against Ross Intelligence, Inc. for copyright infringement and tortious interference with contract, alleging that defendant copied Westlaw’s key number system and headnotes via a third-party legal support services company licensed to use Westlaw for legal research, for purposes of creating a competitor product that allows users to search with questions posed in natural language rather than searching with key words or Boolean terms. Complaint at 1-2, 9, 13-15, Thomson Reuters. Ross Intelligence asserted counterclaims for declaratory judgments of 1) no valid copyrights in the Westlaw content, 2) non-infringement, and 3) no tortious interference with contract against plaintiffs/counterdefendants, alleging that defendant built a powerful AI search engine exclusively by obtaining raw judicial opinions, that raw judicial opinions were purchased from Casemaker and Fastcase, and that the third-party legal support services company was instructed not to breach any third-party contract in connection with its work with defendant. Defendant Ross Intelligence Inc.’s Counterclaims at 12-17, Thomson Reuters.  

All parties filed motions for summary judgment. On September 25, 2023, the Hon. Stephanos Bibas denied the majority of the motions for summary judgment, noting that “many of the critical facts in this case remain genuinely disputed.” Memorandum Opinion at 2, Thomson Reuters.  

Pursuant to the docket, on August 22, 2024, the Hon. Stephanos Bibas continued the trial set to begin on August 26, 2024, without setting a future trial date. Oral Order, docket entry 663, Thomson Reuters. Additionally, the Hon. Stephanos Bibas invited the parties to file motions for summary judgment on copyrightability, validity, infringement, and fair use. Id. On September 27, 2024, the Hon. Stephanos Bibas granted summary judgment to Thomson Reuters on Ross Intelligence’s antitrust counterclaims. Memorandum Opinion at 2, Thomson Reuters. 

Pursuant to the docket, on November 4, 2024, the Hon. Stephanos Bibas orally ordered that the parties reserve the week of May 12, 2025 for trial. 

In case you missed it, a few weeks ago this newsletter checked in on 40+ AI-related copyright infringement lawsuits making their way through the court system.  Given the factual distinctions between Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GMBH et al. v. Ross Intelligence Inc. and the other AI-related copyright infringement lawsuits, it’s difficult to predict whether this ruling will serve as a bellwether for decisions to come. I’ll continue to cover notable court rulings in this newsletter and on LinkedIn. 

Thanks for being here.  

Jennifer
Good Journey Consulting