In a significant development in the contentious legal landscape surrounding AI and copyright, Getty Images has withdrawn its primary claims of copyright infringement against Stability AI, the company behind the AI image generator Stable Diffusion. The move took place at London's High Court on Wednesday, marking a shift in one of the most closely watched legal disputes over the use of copyrighted content in AI model training.
Getty's decision to drop the infringement claims does not signal the end of the case. The company is still pursuing secondary infringement and trademark infringement claims, as well as a separate lawsuit in the U.S. This development highlights the complex and evolving issues of content ownership and usage in the era of generative AI.
Getty's lawsuit against Stability AI, filed in January 2023, accused the startup of using millions of copyrighted images to train its AI model without permission. Getty also claimed that many images generated by Stable Diffusion were strikingly similar to the copyrighted content used in the training process, with some even bearing Getty's watermarks. Both of these claims were withdrawn on Wednesday morning.
Legal experts speculate that Getty may have dropped the claims due to difficulties in establishing a strong connection between the alleged infringements and the UK jurisdiction for copyright law. Additionally, Getty may have struggled to prove that the AI models reproduced a substantial part of the copyrighted images.
In its closing arguments, Getty cited weak evidence and a lack of knowledgeable witnesses from Stability AI as the reasons for dropping the claims. The company framed this move as strategic, allowing both parties to focus on stronger and more winnable allegations.
The remaining claims in Getty's lawsuit include a secondary infringement claim and trademark infringement allegations. Getty argues that the AI models themselves might infringe copyright law, and using these models in the UK could be considered importing infringing articles, even if the training occurred outside the UK.
Stability AI expressed relief at Getty's decision to drop multiple claims after the conclusion of the testimony. The startup believes that Getty's trademark and passing off claims will fail, as consumers do not interpret the watermarks as a commercial message from Stability AI.
In a separate case, Getty's U.S. division sued Stability AI in February 2023 for trademark and copyright infringement. Getty alleges that Stability used up to 12 million copyrighted images to train its AI model without permission, seeking damages for 11,383 works at $150,000 per infringement, totaling $1.7 billion. Getty maintains that its decision to drop copyright infringement claims in the UK does not impact the pending U.S. case.
Stability AI is also named in another complaint alongside Midjourney and DeviantArt after a group of visual artists sued the three companies for copyright infringement.
Getty Images has its own generative AI offering, leveraging AI models trained on Getty iStock stock photography and video libraries. This tool allows users to generate new licensable images and artwork.
As the legal battles over AI and copyright continue to unfold, the implications for content ownership and usage in the age of generative AI remain uncertain.