Earlier today, I reported on the motion to dismiss filed by ROSS Intelligence in a lawsuit filed against it by Thomson Reuters. Now, a TR spokesperson has issued a statement in response to the motion.

Here is the statement:

“Nowhere does ROSS deny that it surreptitiously stole content from Westlaw. It did this without our consent to build its competing product. The stolen content included far more than just caselaw: It was the highly creative and original copyrighted work of Westlaw’s thousands of attorney-editors, which includes our proprietary commentary, analysis, and organizational system. ROSS’ persistence to gain access to Westlaw, even after being explicitly denied access, shows that ROSS was not simply after judicial opinions – as there are countless other ways to get them – but rather our valuable, copyrighted editorial additions.”

[Updated 9 p.m. ET with response from ROSS.]

After posting the TR statement, I received this response from ROSS CEO Andrew Arruda:

“We encourage Thomson Reuters to read the brief in full, which clearly and explicitly denies any wrongdoing: ‘The Complaint does not allege any facts evidencing that ROSS copied the headnotes or number system. ROSS did not copy either and it makes absolutely no sense that it would do so.'”

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.