Stability AI Largely Wins UK Court Case vs. Getty Images Over Copyright, Trademark

Artificial intelligence (AI) company Stability AI has mostly prevailed against Getty Images in a British court battle over intellectual property.

Getty had argued that the development of Stability’s AI image generator, called Stable Diffusion, was a “brazen infringement” of its image library “on a staggering scale.” (Photo: Stability AI X)

Seattle-based Getty Images, which owns an extensive online library of images and videos, had sued Stability AI in a widely watched case that went to trial at Britain’s High Court in June, Kelvin Chan and Matt O’Brien reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The case was among a wave of lawsuits filed by movie studios, authors, and artists challenging tech companies’ use of their works to train AI systems.

According to a judge’s ruling released recently, Getty narrowly won its argument that Stability had infringed its trademark but lost its claim of secondary copyright infringement. Both sides claimed victory.

“This is a significant win for intellectual property owners,” Getty Images said in a statement. Shares of Getty dipped 3% before the opening bell in the U.S. Stability said it was pleased with the ruling.

“This final ruling ultimately resolves the copyright concerns that were the core issue,” Stability General Counsel Christian Dowell said.

Getty had argued that the development of Stability’s AI image generator, called Stable Diffusion, was a “brazen infringement” of its image library “on a staggering scale.”