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UK Court Backs Stability AI on Copyright, Finds Narrow Trademark Breach

The judge characterized the decision as tightly limited by jurisdiction, leaving major questions for U.S. litigation.

Overview

  • The High Court ruled that a diffusion model that does not store or reproduce original works is not an infringing copy, dismissing Getty’s secondary copyright claim.
  • Getty secured a limited win on trademark where Getty and iStock watermarks appeared in some outputs, with responsibility placed on the model provider rather than users.
  • Getty abandoned its main copyright claim mid‑trial after failing to show the model was trained in the UK, as Stability argued training occurred on external infrastructure such as AWS.
  • Both companies claimed aspects of victory as legal experts and rights‑holders urged transparency requirements and potential legislative reform to address unresolved gaps.
  • Getty said it will carry factual findings from the UK case into its ongoing U.S. lawsuit, with the judge noting her findings were extremely limited in scope.