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Third Circuit upholds ruling that ROSS's AI training on Westlaw was not fair use
The appeals court affirmed Judge Stephanos Bibas's February 2025 summary judgment that Westlaw headnotes are copyrightable and that ROSS Intelligence's use of them to train a competing legal-research tool was not fair use; the opinion was issued under seal pending redactions. It is reported as the first federal appellate decision on fair use in AI training, though ROSS's system was not generative AI.
Why it matters
Appellate authority now holds that copying works to build a directly competing AI product can fail fair use, a precedent plaintiffs will press against generative AI developers.
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Connections our researchers recorded
- DevelopmentUS Justice Department backs OpenAI's fair-use defence in New York Times case1 Sep 2026 · Statement · USContrasts with: An appeals court rejected fair use for competing AI training four weeks after the DOJ argued training is transformative.
What led here
Earlier developments on the same thread
- DevelopmentCourt gives final approval to Anthropic's $1.5bn settlement with book authors20 Jul 2026 · Enforcement or ruling · US
- DevelopmentSAG-AFTRA ratifies four-year studio deal restricting synthetic performers4 Jun 2026 · Deal · US
- DevelopmentWhite House sends Congress AI framework calling for preemption of state laws20 Mar 2026 · Policy · US
- DevelopmentWarner Music settles with Suno and agrees licensed AI music models for 202625 Nov 2025 · Deal · US
Same story elsewhere
What other countries and bodies did on this
- DevelopmentDelhi High Court refuses ANI's bid to stop OpenAI training on its news24 Jul 2026 · Enforcement or ruling · IN
- DevelopmentMunich court rules ChatGPT's memorised song lyrics infringe copyright (GEMA v OpenAI)11 Nov 2025 · Enforcement or ruling · DE
- DevelopmentUK High Court rejects Getty's secondary copyright claim against Stability AI4 Nov 2025 · Enforcement or ruling · GB
- DevelopmentEU publishes General-Purpose AI Code of Practice ahead of AI Act model duties10 Jul 2025 · Rule change · EU
Rules in play
Laws and guidance this touches
- RuleGPAI Code of PracticeEU · In force · 10 Jul 2025
- RuleUK Copyright and AI reportGB · In force · 18 Mar 2026
- RuleAB 2013US-CA · In force · 28 Sep 2024
Threads by topic: Copyright Courts and liability