I. General information
Date of Judgement: 14.01.2025
Issuing Authority: The High Court of Justice of England and Wales, UK
Category: Copyright Infringement of AI training data
Plaintiff/Appellant: Getty Images and related companies, including Thomas M Barwick Inc.
Defendant/Respondent: Stability AI Ltd, the developer of the image-generating AI model Stable Diffusion
Keyworks: AI; training data; copyright; UK
II. Dispute
Plaintiff: Getty Images and related companies, including Thomas M Barwick Inc.
Defendant: Stability AI Ltd, the developer of the image-generating AI model Stable Diffusion.
Main allegations:
• Stability AI unlawfully collected millions of images from Getty Images' websites to train its AI model.
• This use infringes copyright, database rights, trademarks, and constitutes passing off
III. Legal basis
UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA);
UK Trade Marks Act 1994
IV. Judgement
On January 14, 2025, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales issued a judgment in the case of Getty Images (US) Inc and others v Stability AI Ltd [2025] EWHC 38 (Ch). This ruling focused on refusing permission for Thomas M Barwick Inc (the sixth claimant) to act as a representative for a group of other copyright owners in the lawsuit against Stability AI. The lawsuit is still ongoing, with the trial expected to take place in late June or early July 2025.
V. Remarks
Significance of the ruling:
This ruling emphasizes the importance of clearly and accurately defining the representative group in collective lawsuits. It also highlights the legal challenges in handling lawsuits involving AI and copyright, especially concerning the use of data to train AI models.
This lawsuit raises important questions about the use of copyrighted data to train artificial intelligence models and the legal boundaries between fair use and intellectual property infringement in the rapidly developing field of AI technology.
