ROSS Intelligence
ROSS Intelligence was an AI legal-research engine that answered plain-English questions with cited case law.
RIP ROSS Intelligence
Shut down · January 2021
ROSS Intelligence, founded in 2014 out of the University of Toronto, was an AI legal-research engine that let lawyers ask questions in plain English and get cited case law, taking on Westlaw and LexisNexis. In 2020 Thomson Reuters sued it for training on Westlaw headnotes; unable to fund the litigation, ROSS shut down on January 31, 2021. In February 2025 a federal judge ruled it had infringed Westlaw's copyrights, a landmark AI training-data decision.
Last known pricing: Per-attorney subscription (historical)
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Overview
What happened to ROSS Intelligence
ROSS Intelligence was an AI-powered legal research platform that let attorneys ask questions in natural language and receive answers grounded in cited case law. Founded in 2014 out of the University of Toronto by Andrew Arruda, Jimoh Ovbiagele, and Pargles Dall'Oglio, it positioned itself as a faster, smarter challenger to incumbents Westlaw and LexisNexis.
Key Features
- Natural-language legal questions instead of boolean search
- Answers returned with cited, on-point case law
- Continuously updated case-law coverage
- Built to compete directly with Westlaw and LexisNexis
What happened
In May 2020, Thomson Reuters sued ROSS, alleging it had used Westlaw headnotes to train its system. ROSS could not fund a drawn-out copyright fight and shut down on January 31, 2021. The case continued without it: in February 2025 a federal judge in Delaware ruled ROSS had infringed Westlaw's copyrights and rejected its fair-use defense, making it a landmark decision for AI training data.
FAQ
Is ROSS Intelligence still available? No. The company shut down on January 31, 2021, citing the cost of the Thomson Reuters litigation.
Why did ROSS Intelligence shut down? It could not afford to keep fighting a copyright lawsuit from Thomson Reuters over the use of Westlaw headnotes to train its AI.
What are alternatives to ROSS Intelligence? Westlaw, LexisNexis, Casetext, and newer tools like Harvey cover AI-assisted legal research.
tl;dr
ROSS Intelligence was an AI legal-research startup that shut down in 2021 after Thomson Reuters sued it over Westlaw training data. A 2025 ruling found it infringed Westlaw's copyrights.