Getty targets AI firm in copyright dispute
Photograph library claims millions of images were infringed | AI company is creative force behind a popular art tool.
Getty Images is suing the creators of a popular art tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI) over the alleged copyright infringement of millions of images.
The library made the complaint against Stability AI on January 17, at the England Wales High Court in London, and announced its action in a statement posted on its website.
In that statement, Getty said that it believed that AI has the potential to stimulate creative endeavours and that it “provides licences to leading technology innovators for purposes related to training AI systems in a manner that respects personal and IP rights”.
But according to Getty, Stability AI bypassed this option, and unlawfully copied and processed images protected by copyright and the associated metadata owned or represented by Getty Images without a licence.
Stability AI is the company behind the AI tool, Stable Diffusion.
Getty argued that Stability AI knowingly infringed to benefit its commercial interests and that its actions were to the detriment of the content creators who contribute their work to the library.
“Stability AI did not seek any such licence from Getty Images and instead, we believe, chose to ignore viable licensing options and long‑standing legal protections in pursuit of their stand‑alone commercial interests.”
Stability AI: ‘Not covered by fair dealing/use’
In an interview with tech magazine, The Verge, Getty CEO Craig Peters said that the company had issued Stability AI with a cease and desist letter before filing the lawsuit.
He said: “We’re taking action to protect our and our contributors’ intellectual property rights. The driver of that [letter] is Stability AI’s use of intellectual property of others—absent permission or consideration—to build a commercial offering of their own financial benefit.”
Peters insisted that the company made no outreach to Getty to request permission to use its contributors’ material.
“We don’t believe this specific deployment of Stability’s commercial offering is covered by fair dealing in the UK or fair use in the US,” he added.
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