
Getty's landmark UK lawsuit on copyright and AI set to begin
LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - Getty Images' landmark copyright lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Stability AI begins at London's High Court on Monday, with the photo provider's case likely to set a key precedent for the law on AI.
The Seattle-based company, which produces editorial content and creative stock images and video, accuses Stability AI of breaching its copyright by using its images to "train" its Stable Diffusion system, which can generate images from text inputs.
Getty, which is bringing a parallel lawsuit against Stability AI in the United States, says Stability AI unlawfully scraped millions of images from its websites and used them to train and develop Stable Diffusion.
Stability AI – which has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and in March announced investment by the world's largest advertising company, WPP (WPP.L), opens new tab – is fighting the case and denies infringing any of Getty's rights.
A Stability AI spokesperson said that "the wider dispute is about technological innovation and freedom of ideas," adding: "Artists using our tools are producing works built upon collective human knowledge, which is at the core of fair use and freedom of expression."
Getty's case is one of several lawsuits brought in Britain, the U.S. and elsewhere over the use of copyright-protected material to train AI models, after ChatGPT and other AI tools became widely available more than two years ago.
Creative industries are grappling with the legal and ethical implications of AI models that can produce their own work after being trained on existing material. Prominent figures including Elton John have called for greater protections for artists.
Lawyers say Getty's case will have a major impact on the law, as well as potentially informing government policy on copyright protections relating to AI.
"Legally, we're in uncharted territory. This case will be pivotal in setting the boundaries of the monopoly granted by UK copyright in the age of AI," Rebecca Newman, a lawyer at Addleshaw Goddard, who is not involved in the case, said.
She added that a victory for Getty could mean that Stability AI and other developers will face further lawsuits.
Cerys Wyn Davies, from the law firm Pinsent Masons, said the High Court's ruling "could have a major bearing on market practice and the UK's attractiveness as a jurisdiction for AI development".

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Sun
23 minutes ago
- The Sun
ChatGPT DOWN as hundreds of users hit by error messages due to mysterious OpenAI outage
CHATGPT appears to be suffering from a mysterious outage leaving frustrated users with random error messages. A surge in reports was picked up by Down Detector, with more than 750 complaints in the UK and almost 500 in the US. 1 It's not clear whether the problems are widespread or limited to some users. The error message reads: "A network error occurred. "Please check your connection and try again. If this issue persists please contact us through our help center at Meanwhile, others have reported a reply that says: "Hmm.. something seems to have gone wrong." People have taken to social media to try to find out what's going on with the popular platform, which is thought to have some 400million weekly users. "ChatGPT, my work buddy, is down again," one person fumed on X. "Apparently Chatgpt is down globally. I thought my internet was glitching," another commented. ChatGPT owner OpenAI has spoken out about the issue, saying it is investigating. Problems appear to have started at 9am BST. "Some users are experiencing elevated error rates and latency across the listed services," the firm's service status page says. "We are investigating."


The Sun
23 minutes ago
- The Sun
Samsung fans can get a FREE £600 tech bundle including a Galaxy tablet, watch & earbuds in mega giveaway – here's how
SAMSUNG is launching a huge summer giveaway, with tech fans able to get their hands on a free bundle of gadgets, worth £600. Android users are in with a chance to bag a Galaxy Watch7, Galaxy Buds3 Pro and Galaxy Tab A9+ completely free, but you'll have to be quick to snap up the deal. 1 To become the proud owner of the new set of tech, you need to purchase a Galaxy S25, S25+ or S25 Ultra phone from Currys owned retailer The order comes with the free air buds and watch, and you can then head over to the Samsung website to claim your free tablet. All together the three pieces of tech come to a whopping £596, making this deal seem too good to be true. The best value phone you can purchase to get your hands on the freebies is the £24.99 per month plan with iD Mobile which comes with 500 GB of data on a Samsung Galaxy S25 128GB phone. The 24 month contract requires a £79 upfront cost, however, it does also come with a six month free trial of Google One AI Premium, worth £113.94. has not confirmed an end date for the air bud and watch freebies, but said that the price drop will end at 4pm today, June 10. The free tablet is only available on order purchased before June 26. In total, the plan will cost you £702.76 over the two year period. This is cheaper than buying the phone directly from Samsung, which will set you back £799. If you would prefer to purchase the S25+ model, iD Mobile's £39.99 a month plan (with a £79 upfront cost) is the best value deal. Samsung Galaxy S25 launch Or, if you fancy splashing out on the S25 Ultra, you can choose the £44.99 a month deal, and pay £119 upfront. Although may not be the first store that shoppers think of when purchasing a new handset, this incredible deal will likely win many customers over. Plus, shoppers have been raving about the store on Trustpilot. One reviewer said: "My go-to. Seamless and such good deals to be had. "I would not look anywhere else.' Another said: "Fast and efficient. Great choice of phones and contracts at the best prices I could find after a comprehensive search of a large number of alternatives. "Clear communication, and my phone was delivered on the day and time it was stated by the company. "Everything about the experience was good.' A third person said: "Such a simple and super quick process to upgrade to a new phone. "Had an issue online but called the call centre and was resolved by a lovely and helpful lady, the new phone arrived the next day."


Telegraph
24 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Reeves to give speech ahead of Spending Review
Rachel Reeves is set to deliver a speech at the GMB union conference as the Chancellor prepares to unveil her eagerly-awaited Spending Review tomorrow. Ms Reeves is expected to use the address to the union in Brighton today to hail the Government's new £16.7 billion commitment to nuclear power projects. The Chancellor has signed off on £14.2 billion of investment to build the new Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk. Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce has been named as the preferred bidder to build small modular reactors (SMRs) in a programme backed by £2.5 billion of taxpayers' cash. The funding is part of a wider programme of infrastructure investment worth tens of billions of pounds over the next decade which the Chancellor will confirm at the Spending Review in the House of Commons tomorrow. The review is expected to set out real-terms funding cuts for numerous Whitehall departments and the Chancellor's speech in Brighton will be watched closely for any clues about where the squeeze could be felt the most.