Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Getty v Stability AI: EWHC (Ch) finds model weights not 'infringing copies'; secondary importation under CDPA ss 22–23 fails; training claim withdrawn - AI copyright enforcement gap

Published on: 13 November 2025

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

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Article summary

Getty Images (US) Inc and others v Stability AI [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch)

What are the practical implications of this case?

The progress of the dispute and the court’s judgment underline how challenging it is to enforce copyright when works are used, without consent, to train artificial intelligence models, particularly generative AI. Both sides are major global businesses, capable of bearing the rigours and expense of court proceedings. The litigation featured substantial procedural complexity and technical hurdles.

An application for summary judgment
An expert list
Contests over the breadth of disclosure and tools needed to probe Stability’s gigantic unstructured data sets

The judgment runs to over 200 pages and tackles novel copyright issues that would intimidate even highly sophisticated parties. As dependence on AI grows by the day, actions against AI developers are likely to be out of reach for all but the wealthiest creators.

On substance, the decision highlights a statutory lacuna around secondary infringement under sections 22, 23 and 27 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. On enactment, these provisions addressed circumstances where copyright works were unlawfully copied outside the jurisdiction onto a medium...

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