Judge rules Getty partly successful in trademark infringement claim, but broader copyright issues remain unresolved.

Getty Images has largely lost its landmark copyright case against Stability AI in London’s High Court, a ruling closely watched by the global creative and tech industries as they grapple with the legal frontiers of artificial intelligence.

Getty’s Claims Narrowed Mid-Trial

Seattle-based Getty Images accused the AI company Stability AI of using millions of its copyrighted images to train its Stable Diffusion model, which generates pictures from text prompts. The case was expected to set a major precedent for AI copyright law. However, Getty dropped a key part of its lawsuit mid-trial after struggling to prove where the AI model had been trained.

Limited Victory on Trademark

Judge Joanna Smith ruled that Getty had “succeeded in part” on its trademark infringement claim. The ruling found that the inclusion of Getty’s watermark in AI-generated images violated trademark law, but described the infringement as “both historic and extremely limited in scope.” This means the decision does not substantially expand legal protections for creative assets used in AI training.

Copyright Claims Dismissed

The court dismissed Getty’s claim of secondary copyright infringement, which alleged that Stability AI had imported an infringing model into the UK. Intellectual property lawyers said the decision highlights the difficulty of applying existing copyright frameworks to fast-evolving AI technologies that blur the boundaries between human creativity and machine learning.

Getty’s Reaction and U.S. Case

In a statement, Getty said the court’s acknowledgment of AI model liability “established a powerful precedent that intangible articles, such as AI models, are subject to copyright infringement claims in the same way as tangible articles.” The company added it plans to use this finding in its ongoing lawsuit against Stability AI in the United States, which could have broader implications for the global AI industry.

Market Response and Industry Impact

Following the ruling, Getty’s shares fell 3.6 per cent in premarket trading on the New York Stock Exchange at 1140 GMT. The decline reflects investor caution over the uncertain legal path ahead for creative content companies facing the rise of generative AI systems.

Implications for Southeast Asia

The case underscores a critical issue for Southeast Asian innovators and regulators — how to balance creative rights with technological progress. As AI adoption grows in hubs like Singapore and Indonesia, the outcome of international rulings like this could influence how regional policymakers draft future AI and copyright frameworks.

The Getty–Stability AI ruling marks an early test of how global courts may interpret intellectual property in the age of generative AI. While Getty’s limited win clarifies some boundaries on trademark misuse, the unresolved copyright questions will continue to shape global — and regional — debates on AI ethics, ownership, and innovation.

Sources: Malay Mail (2025) , The Economic Times (2025)

Keywords: Getty Images, Stability AI, AI Lawsuit, Trademark Infringement, Copyright Case, London High Court