The Evolving Landscape of AI and Media Rights

Getty Images vs. Stability AI: A Landmark Legal Battle

Latest Development in Generative AI Case: Getty Images v Stability AI

In January 2023, Getty Images sued Stability AI in the UK High Court, claiming the infringement of its intellectual property rights relating to Stability’s deep learning AI model. Getty alleges that Stability’s software, known as Stability Diffusion, automatically generates images using millions of images scraped from the Getty stock images website.

Stability sought summary judgment, arguing that Stable Diffusion's training and development occurred outside the UK and, therefore, fell outside the scope of the CDPA. It asserted that any potentially infringing "synthetic" images produced by Stable Diffusion would be the responsibility of the user.

The Court did not completely concur with Stability. While it acknowledged that, on the balance of probabilities, no training or development of Stable Diffusion occurred in the UK, there was insufficient evidence to grant summary judgment on that matter.

The Judge was unconvinced that Getty’s claim against Stability regarding the training and development of Stable Diffusion in the UK had no real prospect of success at trial, emphasising that an interim hearing wasn’t a trial.

Mrs. Justice Smith determined that the disclosure process may yet yield evidence revealing the ‘precise nature of the development and training of Stable Diffusion’.

The secondary infringement of copyright claim

Mrs. Justice Smith also declined to dismiss Getty’s argument that Stability unlawfully imported, possessed, and/or dealt with an ‘article’, specifically the pre-trained Stable Diffusion software, in the UK. The judge stated that this claim ‘really stands or falls’ on the true interpretation of the term ‘article’ in sections 22, 23, and 27 of the CDPA; in particular, whether sections 22 and 23 of the CDPA are confined to dealings in ‘articles’ that are solely physical and tangible items or whether ‘articles’ also encompasses intangible items (such as making software available).

The Current Update

Yesterday, the 14th January 2025, in London, Mrs Justice Smith ruled that thousands of photographers who have uploaded their work to Getty Images cannot join the stock image giant's leading copyright infringement claim concerning generative artificial intelligence technology.

Stability AI successfully persuaded the court not to allow prominent photographer Thomas M. Barwick to represent a class of around 50,000 individuals whose works may have been used to develop Stability's Stable Diffusion software.

Mrs. Justice Smith wrote that forming such a class would depend on whether Stability had infringed the photographers' intellectual property, a matter that the court has yet to resolve.

In November 2024, Stability sought to counter a potential class of photographers who had uploaded their images to the stock photo website.

Stability’s primary contention against the class definition proposed by the claimants was that it hinged on a contentious issue in the litigation, specifically whether the defendant has infringed copyright at all.

It also argued that the claimants ought to have raised the issue of whether Barwick could represent the class at an earlier stage, and permitting this now makes it more difficult to try the case.

However, the claimants contended that if the court allowed Stability’s application, it might inhibit future claims alleging AI-related infringement from being litigated in English courts.

Judge Smith held that the question of whether the copyright works had been infringed could not define the class, as this point depended on the case's outcome.

According to the judgement, no method existed to identify who would be considered a class member.

The IP community continues to be very interested in this case, and we will update you on its progress.

To obtain a quotation, please contact us at (020) 7305-7491 or at peter@pailsolicitors.co.uk. We would be delighted to assist you. Mr Peter Adediran is the owner and principal solicitor at PAIL® Solicitors. Subscribe to our newsletter to get blog post updates and other information about the firm straight to your inbox.