The first appeals ruling on AI training went against the AI company.
A US federal appeals court unsealed its opinion on 30 September against legal search startup ROSS Intelligence. Judges found ROSS copied the editorial headnotes inside Westlaw, the paid database it wanted to replace. The court said its reasoning does not cover generative models, but copyright lawyers expect it tested there.
Why it mattersEvery AI copyright case now has an appeals court decision to argue about. The ruling protects the editing work inside a database, not just the raw text.
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