Westlaw Retains Win Over Use of Headnotes to Train AI Competitor
2026-09-29
news.bloomberglaw.com
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A US federal appeals court upheld a ruling that Ross Intelligence infringed Thomson Reuters' copyright by using Westlaw headnotes to train its AI-powered legal search engine without fair use permission. The decision, a first in US courts, led to Ross shutting down its platform due to litigation costs.[AI generated]
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The event involves an AI system (Ross Intelligence's AI tool) whose development included using copyrighted headnotes without fair use permission, leading to a legal dispute. This constitutes a violation of intellectual property rights, which is a recognized harm under the AI Incident definition. Since the court ruling confirms the infringement, the harm is realized, making this an AI Incident rather than a hazard or complementary information. The event is not merely an update or a general AI news item but a concrete legal decision about harm caused by AI development practices.[AI generated]