Comment by hgs3
12 days ago
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled [1] that using AI to train on a competitor's copyrighted material to build a competing product is _not_ fair use. This is a recent ruling (September 30, 2026). GitHub policy has surely not caught up yet and who knows when it will.
> Do you think I should look for a lawyer to deal with it outside the digital world?
Absolutely. This is a copyright infringement case and there is now an appellate precedent to cite. Gather as much evidence as you can and speak with an IP attorney.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/unsealed-opinion-sh...
You're right that this is a copyright infringement case, but I'm not sure if AI is relevant here, as it seems like a pretty straightforward rip-off.
Also TFA is about a much narrower ruling than it first seems:
>The 3rd Circuit distinguished Thomson Reuters' case from other AI training cases. Unlike the technology in those cases, Ross' search engine did not feature generative AI — AI that creates new content — and the appeals court said in a footnote that concerns raised by the US Department of Justice in a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI "do not apply here."
How is this enforceable with llms if they train on generalist material, which is already the case?
I don't think it's enforceable or even applicable here. "The 3rd Circuit distinguished Thomson Reuters' case from other AI training cases. Unlike the technology in those cases, Ross' search engine did not feature generative AI — AI that creates new content "
this comment is misleading.
... and we all know our idiotic/corrupt Supreme Court can and likely will overrules that very sensible ruling with something crazy ...
... so virtually no one considers that ruling to be the final word on the topic (sadly).