A London High Court has largely ruled against Getty Images in its landmark lawsuit against artificial intelligence firm Stability AI. The case centred on whether Stability AI unlawfully used Getty’s content to train its AI image generator, Stable Diffusion.
Getty Images had initially accused Stability AI of extracting “millions” of images from its website without consent to train its AI model. However, during the trial, Getty dropped its primary claims of direct copyright infringement.
In her 205-page ruling, Judge Joanna Smith noted that Getty acknowledged a lack of evidence that the AI training occurred within the UK. This significantly limited the scope of the remaining claims the court could address.
Getty Images loses AI copyright case in ‘blow to UK creators’
A judge ruled that Stability AI’s image creation model did not infringe Getty’s copyright in a decision that experts said was a boon for the AI industryhttps://t.co/wRmyiTZCB8
— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) November 4, 2025The judge described Getty’s successful claims as both “historic and extremely limited in scope.”
Getty Images did secure a partial victory on one point. The court found Stability AI liable for trademark infringement for generating images that contained a “Getty” or “iStock” watermark.
The ruling is seen as a significant setback for content creators and copyright holders. It highlights the legal challenges in seeking compensation when AI models are trained on the work of others.
Read: Studio Ghibli, Bandai Namco Accuse OpenAI of Copyright Breach
In a statement, Getty Images expressed deep concern over the difficulties in protecting intellectual property. The company called on governments to establish stricter transparency rules for the development of AI.
Conversely, Stability AI stated it was “pleased” with the outcome. The company’s General Counsel, Christian Dowell, noted that the ruling resolves the core copyright concerns that were initially raised, as Getty had voluntarily dismissed those claims.
