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Fieldfisher’s Intellectual Property team has been advising Getty Images in its litigation against Stability AI in the UK. Judgment was handed down today in the High Court by Mrs Justice Joanna Smith DBE.
Getty Images has published the following statement:
Today’s ruling confirms that Stable Diffusion’s inclusion of Getty Images’ trademarks in AI-generated outputs infringed those trademarks. Crucially, the Court rejected Stability AI’s attempt to hold the user responsible for that infringement, confirming that responsibility for the presence of such trademarks lies with the model provider, who has control over the images used to train the model. This is a significant win for intellectual property owners.
The ruling delivered another key finding; that, wherever the training and development did take place, Getty Images' copyright-protected works were used to train Stable Diffusion. The ruling also established a powerful precedent that intangible articles, such as AI models, are subject to copyright infringement claims in the same way as tangible articles. We will be taking forward findings of fact from the UK ruling in our US case.
Beyond the specifics of the decision, we remain deeply concerned that even well‑resourced companies such as Getty Images face significant challenges in protecting their creative works given the lack of transparency requirements. We invested millions of pounds to reach this point with only one provider that we need to continue to pursue in another venue. We urge governments, including the UK, to establish stronger transparency rules which are essential to prevent costly legal battles and to allow creators to protect their rights.
The Fieldfisher team leading on the case included partners Nick Rose and Tommy McKenna, directors Christopher Leung and Katie Warner, Verity Ellis and senior associate Emma Varty.
