Thomson Reuters v. ROSS — Third Circuit Accelerates #
- Third Circuit sets oral argument for June 11 in Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence (Chat GPT Is Eating the World) — Third Circuit oral argument is set for June 11, 2026 — the first appellate argument in any case directly testing whether AI training on copyrighted works is fair use. Judge Bibas reversed his 2023 fair-use finding in 2025; ROSS is appealing. Oral argument June 11 means a decision likely Q3–Q4 2026.
- Each Side Claims the Same Recent Ruling Supports Its Position in Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Appeal (LawNext, 2026-05-13) — The Third Circuit ordered supplemental briefs on ASTM v. UpCodes (a recent ruling that UpCodes’ publication of building standards incorporated into law likely constitutes fair use). Both parties filed May 11 with diametrically opposed readings: ROSS argues UpCodes effectively demands summary reversal; Thomson Reuters argues UpCodes shows ROSS falls on the wrong side of the fair-use line. The court requesting supplemental briefs is itself a signal — it is working out whether UpCodes affects the AI training analysis.
Alternative Frameworks — Learnrights #
- How ’learnrights’ would compensate creators for AI model training (MIT Sloan) — The “learnrights” framework proposes treating AI training consumption like mechanical licensing in music: AI companies pay into a collective licensing pool (structured like ASCAP/BMI); creators receive royalties proportional to their content’s use. A middle path between “training = free use” (Meta’s position) and “no training without explicit consent” (publisher coalition). MIT Sloan treatment signals it is gaining academic legitimacy as a negotiated alternative to all-or-nothing litigation outcomes.
Cross-links #
- Claude Integrations Thomson Reuters is simultaneously integrating with Claude (runtime MCP access) and litigating against ROSS (training on Westlaw headnotes) — the June 11 oral argument and the MCP partnership are running in parallel.
- AI Impact on Society The learnrights proposal maps onto OpenAI’s “social contract” paper: both are attempting to create durable economic frameworks for the value transfer from content creators to AI companies, rather than binary liability outcomes.
- Emerging pattern: ASTM v. UpCodes (building standards incorporated into law) is now an active wildcard in AI copyright — both sides reading it as supporting their position signals high interpretive uncertainty. The Third Circuit’s reading at oral argument will be the first signal of how the court intends to resolve this.
- Keyword suggestion:
"ASTM v UpCodes" "Thomson Reuters" fair use 2026 — the UpCodes decision is now central to the ROSS appeal; legal analysis will accumulate in the 4 weeks before June 11 oral argument. - Gap: Bartz v. Anthropic final approval hearing was scheduled for May 14 — no coverage found of the court’s ruling. This is now overdue to track.