Getty Images Drops Key Copyright Claims Against Stability AI in Landmark UK Lawsuit

Getty Images Abandons Key Copyright Claims

In a significant development at London's High Court, Getty Images has dropped its primary copyright infringement allegations against Stability AI, the company behind the popular AI image generator Stable Diffusion. This decision, made as closing arguments began, marks a turning point in one of the most closely watched legal battles over AI companies' use of copyrighted content for model training 1

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Getty's lawsuit, filed in January 2023, initially claimed that Stability AI had used millions of copyrighted images without permission to train its AI model. The company also alleged that many works generated by Stable Diffusion were similar to the copyrighted content used in training, with some even bearing Getty's watermarks 1

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Reasons Behind the Strategic Move

Getty's legal team framed the decision to drop these claims as strategic, allowing both the company and the court to focus on what Getty believes are stronger and more winnable allegations 1

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Ben Maling, a partner at law firm EIP, explained, "The training claim has likely been dropped due to Getty failing to establish a sufficient connection between the infringing acts and the UK jurisdiction for copyright law to bite" 1

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Remaining Claims and Their Implications

Despite dropping the primary copyright claims, Getty is still pursuing other allegations:

1. Secondary infringement: Getty argues that the AI models themselves might infringe copyright law, and using these models in the UK could constitute importing infringing articles, even if the training happened outside the UK 1

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2. Trademark infringement: Getty continues to accuse Stability of infringing its trademark, claiming that the AI model was trained on images including Getty's watermarks, which were sometimes reproduced by the image generator 2

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3. "Passing off": This claim relates to the potential confusion caused by the reproduction of Getty's watermarks in AI-generated images 2

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Stability AI's Response and Ongoing Legal Battles

Stability AI welcomed Getty's decision to drop multiple claims. A spokesperson for the company stated, "We are pleased to see Getty's decision to drop multiple claims after the conclusion of testimony. We are grateful for the time and effort the UK court has put forth to address the important matters in this case" 2

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It's important to note that this development only affects the UK lawsuit. Getty's US division is still pursuing a separate case against Stability AI, filed in February 2023, seeking damages of $1.7 billion for alleged infringement of 11,383 works 1

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Broader Implications for AI and Copyright

This case highlights the complex legal landscape surrounding AI training and image generation. As AI companies continue to train their systems on vast amounts of online content, citing "fair use" or "fair dealing" doctrines, the outcome of this and similar cases could have far-reaching implications for both the technology and creative industries 2

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The judge's written decision, expected at a later date, will be closely watched by stakeholders in the AI and creative sectors, potentially setting precedents for future disputes over AI training and copyright infringement 5

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