An argument between Getty Images and Stability AI about some weird photographs and wonky watermarks has turned into the most significant copyright case in recent history.
It will decide just how powerful UK copyright really is. It comes at an interesting time, putting the focus on the High Court as it grapples with these issues whilst the House of Commons succeeds in its play for more time.
Quick re-cap
Getty’s case is that Stable Diffusion was trained on vast quantities of Getty-licensed images without permission, and can reproduce them (including, on occasion, the Getty trademark) on request.
Under UK law, that raises copyright, trademark and database right infringement issues.
What has happened so far
Despite being the first UK case to address these critical issues, in its first week the trial was almost de-railed twice because of a niche point around the wording of the pleadings….
