{
  "id": 19509903,
  "title": "Getty Images faces London AI firm in court",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/11/getty-images-faces-london-ai-firm-in-court",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-11-11T15:02:27.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City AM",
    "slug": "city-am",
    "url": "https://www.cityam.com/getty-images-faces-london-ai-firm-in-court/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The renowned image repository, Getty Images, is embroiled in a legal dispute with a London-based artificial intelligence firm after a court ruling dismissed the core argument of Getty's lawsuit against the AI company. Getty Images filed a lawsuit against Stability AI, a company that includes the director of the Oscar-winning Avatar film franchise, James Cameron, on allegations of unlawfully copying and processing millions of copyrighted images to train its image-generation software, Stable Diffusion. The High Court largely sided with Stability AI in a verdict in November, ruling the legal arguments in Getty's favor. The case has now moved to the Court of Appeal, where Getty Images seeks clarification on the definition of secondary copyright infringement and whether an AI model trained overseas with copyrighted images can be classified as an \"infringing copy\" when imported to the UK, even if the model does not retain the original images. Getty Images' legal representative argued that the company possesses a vast database of images that make its content highly desirable for use in training AI models, while Stability AI contended that it should not be required to pay for this content. Stability AI's legal team focused on the fact that the images were downloaded and stored in data centers outside the UK, implying that UK copyright law does not apply. Getty's barrister contended that Stability AI attempts to separate the act of training the model with copyrighted works from the model itself by mischaracterizing the facts. The original trial, held at the High Court in June 2025, saw Getty Images drop one of their primary copyright infringement claims during the trial. The remaining arguments in front of the court, to be heard between Wednesday and Thursday, include Getty Images' secondary infringement claim, as well as trademark infringement and passing off. Getty Images has declined to comment on the matter, while Stability AI has been approached for a response.",
  "summary": "Publishing giant Getty Images is challenging a legal ruling after a court dismissed its core legal argument in a case against a London-based AI firm. Getty Images sued Stability AI, whose directors include filmmaker James Cameron behind the Oscar-winning Avatar film series, alleging it unlawfully copied and processed millions of copyrighted images to train its [...]",
  "key_points": [
    "Getty Images sues London AI firm Stability AI over copyright infringement.",
    "High Court dismissed Getty's core argument in November.",
    "Court of Appeal to clarify secondary copyright infringement definition."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}