Getty Images experienced a substantial defeat in its high-profile legal action against artificial intelligence developer Stability AI concerning its image-generating technology.
The Seattle-headquartered Getty, known for its editorial and creative stock photography and videography, alleged that Stability AI unlawfully utilized its images to train the Stable Diffusion platform, an AI tool capable of creating visuals based on textual descriptions.
Getty initially pursued claims of direct copyright violation, arguing that the training process for Stable Diffusion involved its protected content and that the system’s outputs replicated copyrighted material.
However, Getty withdrew this segment of the lawsuit during the proceedings, citing insufficient proof regarding the training locations of Stable Diffusion. Legal experts in intellectual property noted that this withdrawal might reduce the judgment’s broader implications for AI-related regulations.
The remaining allegations from Getty included trademark violations and secondary copyright infringement, claiming that Stability AI brought an infringing AI model into the UK.
In her written decision, Justice Joanna Smith ruled that Getty partially succeeded on the trademark infringement claim, though she described her conclusions as “historic yet narrowly confined.”
She rejected Getty’s secondary copyright infringement argument outright.
Following the verdict, Getty’s stock price dropped 6.6% in early trading.
