Getty v Stability: What the Judgment Means for AI and Copyright
On 4 November 2025, the High Court handed down its judgment in the case of Getty Images (US) Inc & ors v Stability AI Limited [2025] EWHC 2863 (ch), the first UK judgment addressing copyright infringement issues arising from the use and training of generative AI models. Although the battle between these two parties looks set to continue in the USA, the widespread debate over AI training practices and the application of intellectual property law to artificial intelligence looks set to continue in the UK, as many of the key questions were left unanswered by this judgement.
Background
Getty Images is a global leader in stock photography, while Stability AI markets generative AI solutions, including a model that produces realistic images based on text prompts called Stable Diffusion. Stable Diffusion was allegedly trained on over 12 million Getty images scraped from websites.
Getty initially claimed that Stability had infringed copyright and database rights by using their content to train the Stable Diffusion AI Model. However, these claims were later abandoned at trial, largely because the development and training of Stable Diffusion had not taken place in the UK, and so UK courts couldn't rule on whether that copying was illegal.
At trial, Getty focused on two simpler questions:
- Is the Stable Diffusion AI itself an illegal copy?
- Do images created by Stable Diffusion illegally use Getty's brand logos?
Is Stable Diffusion an illegal copy?
There are two types of copyright violations:
- Primary infringement: Actually copying someone's work without permission
- Secondary infringement: Importing or selling something that's an illegal copy, when you know or should know it's illegal
The court had to decide: Is Stable Diffusion an "illegal copy" being imported and distributed in the UK? The answer was no. The court ruled that even though Stable Diffusion was trained on Getty's images, the AI model itself doesn't actually contain or store those original images. Therefore, it's not an "illegal copy."
Getty lost this claim.
Do AI-Generated images violate Getty's trademarks?
Getty also claimed that Stable Diffusion sometimes creates images showing watermarks that look like Getty's trademarked logos (like "Getty Images" or "iStock").
However, Getty could only show very few real examples of this happening, most of their evidence came from their own experiments trying to make it happen.
The court found extremely limited trademark violation in cases where the marks and services were identical or very similar. But the court rejected Getty's broader claim that Stability was damaging Getty's brand reputation, saying there wasn't enough evidence that these rare watermark appearances would actually harm Getty's business or confuse customers.
To Conclude
The Court decided that Stability’s AI model was not itself an infringing copy under secondary infringement principles as it did not store or reproduce the training materials. However, this case does not answer whether training and development of AI models in the UK constitutes primary copyright infringement.
As this was a High Court judgment it is possible it will be appealed, so watch this space for further developments. Equally, other similar cases will no doubt come before the UK courts in future – including potentially in respect of AI models that are trained in the UK. The outcome of such cases will have a seismic impact upon the AI sector, whichever way they are decided. In the meantime, the UK Government is required to publish its full report on the use of copyright works and generative AI development by March 2026, which should provide clearer guidance on how these questions will be addressed through policy and potential legislative changes going forward.
For more information on trade marks, copyright, related rights and more, please contact either James Sarjantson on 0113 201 0401 – ku.oc.fcl@nostnajrasj or Thomas Taylor on 0113 204 0407 – ku.oc.fcl@rolyatt.
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