On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled in favor of Reuters ‘ family business, Thomson Reuters, in their lawsuit against lawful AI designer Ross Intelligence.
According to court records, U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas stated that he was reviewing his 2023 conclusion view decision.
The case was brought in May 2020 by Thomson Reuters, accusing San Franciso-based Ross Intelligence of unjustly copying information from its Westlaw program to teach its AI using information from Michigan-based LegalEase Solutions.
Since the start of ChatGPT in 2022, media sources, musicians, and artists have expressed problems that their information was being used to teach AI models.
Some, including Game of Thrones father George RR Martin, John Grisham, and Michael Connelly, have sued engineers, accusing them of using their job without permission or settlement. In December 2023, the New York Times sued OpenAI, alleging its reports were used to teach ChatGPT.
” In my 2023 judgment, I denied description judgment on good use”, Judge Bibas wrote. ” But with new knowledge and comprehension, I renounce those portions of that purchase and its corresponding view addressing good use. Fair use is an affirmative defence, but Ross bears the load of proof”.
Judge Bibas explained that after Ross was denied a license to use Westlaw material, it obtained training data from LegalEase, a research and writing services provider offering contracted legal assistance, which provided “bulk notes” or series of legal questions and replies.
” LegalEase sold Ross about 25, 000 Bulk Memos, which Ross used to teach its AI seek tool”, Bibas wrote. ” In other words, Ross built its fighting solution using Bulk Memos, which in turn were built from Westlaw headnotes. When Thomson Reuters found out, it sued Ross for rights copyright”.
LegalEase, according to Judge Bibas, provided a link explaining how to create the questions and answers using Westlaw headnotes. People were advised never to copy and paste the headnotes immediately.
According to Judge Bibas,” The factions acknowledge that LegalEase had access to Westlaw and used it to create the Bulk Memos.” ” Of course, access alone is not proof. Nevertheless, when a Bulk Memo problem resembles a headnote more than the original criminal opinion, it clearly suggests real copying”.
Judge Bibas determined that Ross Intelligence violated 2, 243 headnotes, with the only remaining disputed factorum being whether some of their rights had expired. He even ruled that Ross Intelligence’s defenses—including honest copyright, trademark use, acquisition, and displays à faire—fail.
” Intelligent person knows when he is right, a wise man knows when he is wrong”, Judge Bibas wrote. ” Wisdom does not always get me, but I try to accept it when it does ––even if it comes soon, as it did around”.
Generally Intelligent Newsletter
A conceptual AI model called Gen narrates a biweekly AI journey.
