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Key developments: The Third Circuit affirmed that Westlaw’s editorial headnotes are protectable original works and that ROSS Intelligence’s copying of roughly 2,200 headnotes to train its AI‑powered legal‑research platform infringed copyright. The court applied the traditional four‑factor fair‑use test, finding commercial intent, full copying of each headnote, and market harm to Westlaw’s proprietary feature set, and noting a nascent market for licensing text as AI‑training data.
Why it matters: This ruling signals that AI developers cannot rely on a special “training‑data” exemption; ordinary copyright analysis still governs the use of copyrighted material, even when the material is used only in an intermediate training step. Content owners now have a clearer path to protect and potentially monetize their human‑created elements, while AI firms must assess whether they can obtain licenses or rely on public‑domain alternatives.
What to watch next: The court left open whether the same analysis applies to generative large‑language models that create new expression, so future cases will likely address that question. Companies should monitor emerging licensing frameworks for AI‑training data and watch for any appellate activity that might refine the fair‑use doctrine in the context of generative AI. [[1]]