Coming LT WAR, Part II, 2016, 2020
ROSS v Thomson Reuters
Another chapter is heating up in the Legal v. Technology War, and if more proof were needed that a hot war has been brewing already — NYT v OPENAI maybe the biggest is not the only nor the first game in town.
There was an earlier and on point case going on now about a publisher bringing copyright infringement claims against a company doing a “spin up” of its content utilizing #AI to create something new. It is ongoing.
Consider: Thomson Reuters Enter. Ctr. GmbH v. Ross Intelligence Inc., C. A. 20-613-LPS (D. Del. Apr. 26, 2022)
With much fanfare and with visions of being IBM Jeopardy-winning Watson’s Lawyer Cousin, “AI Ross” or simply ROSS debuted with much fanfare in 2016, even scoring a “job” with high brand white shoe Baker & Hostetler in its Bankruptcy practice.
IBM's ROSS becomes world's first artificially intelligent attorney
Said Ross Intelligence at that time, “Lawyers ask ROSS research questions in natural language, just like they were talking to a human colleague, and the AI 'reads' through the law, gathers evidence, draws inferences and returns with a 'highly relevant', evidence-based answer.”
Here is a 2017 6mins YT with ROSS’ Andrew.
Yet all was not well for ROSS legal-dress-for-less so far as Thomson Reuters was concerned. Apparently, it was making use of Thomson Reuter’s Westlaw for legal research, capturing and indexing content from there.
Billed as the “King” of legal research, Westlaw claimed in its filing that it had captured “80% of the Legal Research Market,” and thus brought suit for its alleged injury in May 2020.
The chief fact allegation is that ROSS made use of TR research materials through a login it possessed and used that content to give life to its bot.
N.B. It reminds me a little of the Aaron Swartz case, except that ROSS was a commercialized product….see their semi-strident statement here:
Perhaps looking to save on fees, or looking out for itself, really, Baker & Hostetler took up the case of its (former?) robot employee, ROSS.
Late that year (2020) Ross shut down for good [or bad].
https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ross-intelligence-to-shut-down-amid-thomson-reuters-lawsuit
Baker & Hostetler gives this November 2023 update on the ongoing case with various motions for summary judgment having been dismissed and the judge remarking that some issues should be decided by a jury of non-robot peers.
It is a very, very key case, promising to determine some of the outlines of Copyright + Fair Use Doctrine and will be an important procedural and substantive legal appetizer for NYT v. OpenAI coming later.
[In a sad and also funny coda to researching this early ongoing battle in the Lawyers v. Technologists hot war, I note that one of the CaseText entries had below it and ADVERTISEMENT for “CoCounsel, pioneering AI trained for the law…” see below]
Proof that life goes on, even in times of War.
