Getty vs. Stability AI: A Landmark Trial on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence.
On June 9, 2025, a landmark legal case between Getty Images and Stability AI began before the High Court in London. It is one of the first legal battles worldwide concerning the use of copyrighted material to "train" generative artificial intelligence models (such as Stable Diffusion).
Getty's allegations
Getty alleges that Stability AI downloaded millions of images from its archive without a license and used them to train Stable Diffusion. The main allegations include:
Copyright infringement for unauthorized use of protected works.
Trademark infringement, as the AI allegedly generated images bearing the Getty watermark.
Infringement of database rights, as Getty also claims rights to its extensive photographic archive
Stability AI's Defense
Stability AI, based in London, denies the allegations. It argues that the training took place on servers in the United States and is therefore not subject to British jurisdiction. It also maintains that the system promotes creative innovation and freedom of expression, and that very few of the generated images actually resemble the protected originals.
Legal and cultural impact
The trial will last several weeks, with a final decision expected later in 2025. Lawyers agree that this ruling could:
Define the legal boundaries of the use of protected content in AI.
Influence negotiations regarding commercial licensing of the material for creators.
Assess the UK’s appeal as a hub for AI development, based on the strength of its copyright protections.
Developments in Litigation
Internationally, Getty has already filed a similar lawsuit in the United States in February 2023, seeking damages of up to $1.7 billion for over 11,000 images. Recently, however, Getty has dropped some of the claims of direct copyright infringement in the United Kingdom, focusing instead on secondary claims and trademark rights.
The legal landscape is evolving: at the same time, in California, a judge ruled that training Anthropic’s models on potentially pirated books does not constitute copyright infringement. All of this complicates the outlook for creators seeking legal protections to safeguard their work.