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16 January 2026 / Tom Magnani , Dr Beatriz San Martin , Jessica Gillotte , Ally Myers
Issue: 8145 / Categories: Features , Copyright , Artificial intelligence , Intellectual property , Technology
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Getty Images v Stability AI: Much ado about little

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The Getty Images judgment fails to deliver on expectations. Experts from the IP & Technology teams at Arnold & Porter explain why
  • Summarises the highlights of the court’s findings in Getty Images v Stability AI— a ‘historic’ but ‘extremely limited’ ruling.
  • Sets out the impact the judgment will have on future AI infringement cases.

A judge in the High Court of Justice is the latest to weigh in on liability for use of intellectual property by AI companies, in Getty Images (US) Inc and others v Stability AI Ltd [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch). Mrs Justice Joanna Smith DBE considered claims that (i) Stability AI infringed Getty Images’ registered trade marks by generating synthetic image outputs containing similar marks using its AI model, Stable Diffusion, and (ii) Stability AI infringed the copyright in Getty’s visual content by using Getty’s images to train models of Stable Diffusion.

In a painstakingly detailed 205-page judgment, Mrs Justice

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NLJ this week: Freemasons ruling backs police transparency over privacy claims
A legal challenge to police disclosure rules has failed, reinforcing a push for transparency in policing. In NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth examines a case where the Metropolitan Police required officers to declare membership of groups like the Freemasons
NLJ this week: Right to grieve marks ‘major shift’ in employment law
Bereavement leave is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Writing in NLJ this week, Robert Hargreaves of York St John University explains how the Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a day-one right to leave for a wider range of losses, alongside new provisions for pregnancy loss and bereaved partners
NLJ this week: AI privilege battles expose risks
Courts are beginning to grapple with whether AI-generated material is legally privileged—and the answers are mixed. In this week's issue of NLJ, Stacie Bourton, Tom Whittaker & Beata Kolodziej of Burges Salmon examine US rulings showing how easily privilege can be lost
NLJ this week: Experts warned—AI use must be transparent
New guidance seeks to bring order to the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Minesh Tanna and David Bridge of Simmons & Simmons set out a framework stressing ‘transparency’, ‘explainability’ and ‘reliability’
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