Getty Images Faces Setback in AI Copyright Battle

Getty Images largely lost its significant lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company Stability AI at London's High Court. Originally, Getty accused Stability AI of using its images to 'train' the AI's Stable Diffusion system for image generation, violating copyright.

The Seattle-based company had to drop part of its case due to insufficient evidence regarding how Stability AI trained its system. This development may limit the case's broader impact on AI intellectual property law. Nonetheless, Judge Joanna Smith did find that Getty succeeded partially in the trademark infringement related to Getty watermarks appearing in AI-generated images.

Getty Images acknowledged the decision establishing a precedent that intangible AI models can infringe copyrights like tangible articles and plans to leverage this in an ongoing U.S. lawsuit. Meanwhile, Getty's shares saw a 3.6% decline in premarket trading.