Stability AI triumphs in UK copyright case against Getty Images
What's the story
Stability AI mostly prevailed in a legal battle against Getty Images in the UK. Getty Images, a Seattle-based company, accused Stability of copyright and trademark infringement for allegedly scraping 12 million images from its website without permission. The images were used to train Stable Diffusion, Stability's popular image generator. However, the UK High Court ruled in favor of Stability on most counts, while Getty narrowly won on a trademark issue.
Case details
What were the main arguments in the case?
Getty Images accused Stability of primary and secondary copyright infringement. Primary infringement involves unauthorized reproduction, while secondary infringement involves importing those reproductions from another country. Getty initially argued that Stability's use of its image library to train Stable Diffusion's AI model constituted primary copyright infringement, but later dropped this claim. However, Stability countered that the case doesn't belong in the UK as the training actually happened on Amazon-run computers in the US.
Verdict details
Ruling on copyright infringement
During the three-week trial in June, Getty dropped its primary copyright allegations but continued with secondary infringement claims. The court ruled that Stable Diffusion's AI didn't infringe copyright as it doesn't "store or reproduce any Copyright Works (and has never done so)." On trademarks, the court found limited infringement. Some AI-generated images included Getty's watermark/trademark, so trademark infringement was partially upheld.
Legal ramifications
Ruling doesn't provide clarity on legality of AI training
The ruling leaves the UK without a clear decision on the legality of an AI model's training process using copyrighted materials. Iain Connor, an intellectual property partner at Michelmores law firm, said this decision doesn't provide clarity on whether AI training is lawful or not. Despite winning on most counts, Stability's General Counsel Christian Dowell expressed hope for a final resolution to copyright concerns that were central to this case.
Next steps
Getty pursuing similar lawsuit against Stability in US
Getty Images said the ruling was a major win for intellectual property owners, but its shares fell 3% before the US market opened. The company did not comment on whether it plans to appeal. Getty is also pursuing a copyright infringement lawsuit against Stability in the US after re-filing it in August. This case is one of many highlighting the generative AI boom's impact on tech companies and creative industries.