CanLII provides free access to judgments from all Canadian courts, consolidated statutes and regulations for all Canadian jurisdictions as well as secondary law materials from law books, journals and other sources. The non-profit, which was established in 2001, is funded by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada.
In its notice of civil claim (NOCC), filed with the B.C. Supreme Court, CanLII claims that Caseway AI, which was launched in September, violated its terms of service and infringed its copyrighted work through the “systematic download and scraping" of its records.
Caseway, an AI-driven chatbot and legal research assistant that considers and reviews over three million court documents, has claimed that it does not use any of CanLII's proprietary data and indicated that it may challenge the jurisdiction of B.C. courts to hear the case.
“The Defendants’ breach of the Terms of Use was undertaken by the Defendants so that the Defendants, and each of them, could profit from the CanLII Works, which have been developed at significant cost and expense to CanLII,” the plaintiff said in the NOCC.
CanLII has alleged that, by accessing its website, the defendants consented to its terms of use, which prohibit the bulk or systematic downloading of the CanLII works. The terms of use also prohibit the incorporation of CanLII works into another website in a way that misrepresents the fact that the work originated from the CanLII website.
CanLII noted that its works, including court decisions, legislation and secondary sources, have been “reviewed, curated, catalogued and enhanced” by it at significant cost.
CanLII submitted that, among other things, it summarizes court decisions, generating an original analysis containing case facts, procedural history, parties’ submissions, legal issues and reasons for judgment, and reviews and captures citations related to the data.
The plaintiff is seeking injunctions restraining Caseway from copying or reproducing its works, in addition to equitable damages, statutory damages, punitive damages and costs.
However, Alistair Vigier, the co-founder of Caseway AI, said that Caseway AI relies only on original court text and that Caseway has not used any proprietary data owned by CanLII.
“Our AI is built to pull and analyze unaltered court documents directly from public sources, ensuring compliance with copyright and intellectual property laws. CanLII’s attempt to restrict us from using their data is essentially moot, as we’re already avoiding it,” he said in a statement.
Vigier also claimed that the lawsuit runs against CanLII’s stated purpose as it risks limiting innovative solutions that provide greater access to legal information.
CanLII’s website states that its mandate is to provide efficient and open online access to judicial decisions and legislative documents.
“Rather than being adversarial, CanLII could work with AI-driven platforms like ours to increase legal accessibility, which would ultimately benefit everyone,” he said.
He added that he had never seen or accepted CanLII's terms of service and noted that Caseway does not incorporate CanLII’s works in any way that masks, frames, or misrepresents their origin.
Vigier also highlighted that Caseway is an Irish entity, suggesting the company may contest British Columbia's jurisdiction to hear the case.
Vigier noted that an injunction restricting Caseway from using CanLII’s data would not impact its operations as it is not using any CanLII data in its system.
“If CanLII were to shut down tomorrow, Caseway could still get all the new court decisions; we don't need CanLII. They are overinflating their importance and relevance.” he said.
Vigier is also a co-founder of Clearway Law, a lawyer matching service.
CanLII did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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