Thomson Reuters v. Ross
Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence — First U.S. AI-Training Fair-Use Ruling (D. Del.)
D. Del. · Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence, Inc., No. 1:20-cv-00613 (D. Del. Feb. 11, 2025)
- Status
- Blocked / in litigation
- Took effect
- February 11, 2025
- Applies to
- Ross Intelligence, Inc. and similarly situated AI competitors training on a rival's copyrighted database
Thomson Reuters sued legal-research startup Ross Intelligence in 2020 for copying Westlaw headnotes to train a competing AI legal-research tool. In February 2025, Judge Stephanos Bibas (sitting by designation) granted summary judgment to Thomson Reuters on direct copyright infringement and rejected Ross's fair-use defense — the first definitive U.S. ruling on AI-training fair use. No jury trial occurred: a 2023 opinion had denied summary judgment and pointed toward trial, but the court invited renewed briefing and reversed course in the 2025 ruling.
Who is protected: Copyright holders in legal-research and similar databases vis-à-vis competitive AI products
Legal detail
Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence, Inc., No. 1:20-cv-00613 (D. Del., filed May 6, 2020; Judge Stephanos Bibas, sitting by designation from 3d Cir.). Feb. 11, 2025: Memorandum Opinion granting partial summary judgment to plaintiff: (1) 2,243 Westlaw headnotes infringed; (2) fair use rejected on all four factors, with factor 4 (market effect) decisive because Ross built a competing legal-research product. Case is on appeal to 3d Cir. as of 2026 — likely the first federal appellate ruling on generative-AI training fair use.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | D. Del. |
|---|---|
| Level | Federal |
| Citation | Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence, Inc., No. 1:20-cv-00613 (D. Del. Feb. 11, 2025) |
| Topics | copyright and training data |
| Court record | Thomson Reuters v. Ross — CourtListener 1:20-cv-00613 |
More AI rules in D. Del.
- Getty Images v. Stability AI (US) · Blocked / in litigation
Related copyright and training data rules elsewhere
- Hachette v. Google (Gemini AI copyright) · Blocked / in litigation
- New York Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act (2026) · Proposed / pending
- Copyright Office AI Guidance · In effect
- USPTO AI Inventorship Guidance · Repealed / replaced
- NYT v. OpenAI / Microsoft · Blocked / in litigation
- Authors Guild v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
See something wrong or out of date? Submit a correction. Every entry must carry a verifiable source.