Getty Images v Stability AI Ltd [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch) was a landmark test of how UK law applies to AI training—but does it leave key questions unanswered, asks Emma Kennaugh-Gallagher of Mewburn Ellis in NLJ this week
Getty alleged that Stable Diffusion was built from millions of its unlicensed photos, breaching copyright and trade marks. Mrs Justice Joanna Smith found no secondary copyright infringement because the model weights did not reproduce the works themselves, though early versions did infringe Getty’s trade marks by generating synthetic images with iStock watermarks.
For developers, the judgment offers relief: training abroad may avoid liability if models don’t store copies. For rightsholders, it underscores the evidential barriers and the need for transparency about datasets.
While Getty’s partial win brings limited clarity, the ruling signals the start—not the end—of the legal story on generative AI.
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