The legal-research AI startup, founded in Toronto with a second office in San Francisco, announced Friday it was shutting down entirely because of an ongoing copyright-infringement lawsuit Thomson Reuters filed against the startup in May. (The Logic)
Talking point: In the post, the company’s founders said the lawsuit had left them “unable” to raise additional funding to fuel development and marketing efforts. “Our bank account is running out, and we must cease operations in the New Year,” they wrote. Thomson Reuters and the legal research firm it owns, Westlaw, which provides proprietary data to clients, have alleged that Ross Intelligence stole content from Westlaw to build a similar legal research product. The lawsuit claims the AI startup used a third-party called LegalEase, which had a contract with Westlaw, to download WestLaw data “en masse” and give it to Ross Intelligence. The company’s founders have denied the claim. Data from PitchBook shows that Ross Intelligence has raised US$10.95 million to date—most of that money came from an US$8.7-million Series A raise in October 2017 led by Inovia Capital, with participation from Real Ventures, Comcast Ventures and others.