Ross Intel Must Face Thomson Reuters’ Westlaw Copyright Lawsuit

Legal research provider Ross Intelligence Inc. failed Monday to convince a federal court in Delaware to throw out a lawsuit brought against it by competitor Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH for allegedly infringing its copyrights by reproducing and creating work based on Thomson Reuters’ content.

Thomson Reuters and subsidiary West Publishing Corp. sued Ross in May 2020, accusing it of using a then-Westlaw licensee to access and copy Westlaw to create a competing product. Ross was alleged to have induced legal support services company LegalEase Solutions LLC to breach its contract with West by illegally reproducing copyrighted content and sharing it with Ross.

Ross moved to dismiss in July 2020, arguing that the claim doesn’t plausibly allege copyrightable material or the copying of such material, and that the tortious interference claim is time barred and doesn’t sufficiently allege the elements of that claim.

That motion was denied here by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

The court held, as to the alleged copyright infringement, that Thomson Reuters met all prongs of the four-factor test developed to see if a complaint adequately states a claim. The complaint alleges specific original works, ownership of the copyrights in those works, registration of the work in question, and acts by which defendant infringed the copyright, Judge Leonard P. Stark held.

Stark also rejected the argument that the tortious interference with contract claim must be rejected and considered untimely. The judge held that further proceedings before the court, however, will have to address statute of limitations questions.

Thomson Reuters is represented by Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP and by Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Ross is represented by Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP and Crowell & Moring LLP.

The case is Thomson Reuters Enter. Ctr. GmbH et al v. ROSS Intel. Inc., D. Del., No. 1:20-cv-00613, 3/29/21.