News
Appeals court rejected an AI-training fair-use defense (training-use note for AI music creators). The case is legal-search AI, not a music-generation win
On 29 September 2026 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (No. 25-2153) AFFIRMED the District of Delaware’s 11 February 2025 order in Thomson Reuters / West Publishing v. ROSS Intelligence. Costs against the appellant. The opinion is sealed. The tool is non-generative legal search. This case does not decide generative-music fair use (Suno/Udio).
What happened
On 29 September 2026 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (No. 25-2153) AFFIRMED the District of Delaware’s 11 February 2025 order in Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH / West Publishing Corp. v. ROSS Intelligence Inc. Costs taxed against the appellant. The judgment follows the Court’s Opinion; the opinion text is sealed. Secondary reports call it about 32 pages and precedential.
What changed
On 11 February 2025 the district court (Judge Bibas by designation, D. Del. 1:20-cv-00613) held that ROSS’s use of Westlaw-headnote-derived material to train a competing legal-search AI was not fair use. The appeals court kept that result without releasing its reasons. Trade coverage frames this as the first appellate affirmance on AI-training fair use. RIAA and NMPA filed as amici. ROSS’s tool was non-generative legal search; Bibas noted in 2025 that only non-generative AI was before him.
Whose work this affects
This is a training-use and licensing-atmosphere note. The case is a competing legal-search tool, not a ruling on generative AI music fair use (Suno/Udio). Rightsholders may cite the affirmance for “train-to-compete is not fair use,” but this docket does not decide music-generation cases. Put “training basis = license vs fair-use claim” on the job folder.
Do this today
For each live generation job, write one line on whether training rests on a license or a fair-use claim, and do not cite this judgment as a music-generation win.
Sources
Primary: Third Circuit judgment PDF (29 September 2026). Secondary: Music Business Worldwide and Copyright Lately. Clickable URLs at the end.