Getty Images vs. Stability AI: the High Court of London on copyright and trademark protection for generative AI

The case Getty Images v. Stability AI of 4 November 2025 highlights the delicate balance between intellectual property and generative artificial intelligence. The High Court of London dismissed the claim of secondary copyright infringement, noting that the Stable Diffusion model neither stores nor reproduces the training images and therefore cannot be considered an infringing copy.

A limited trademark infringement was recognized in relation to the generation of “Getty Images” and “iStock” watermarks by earlier versions of the model, while claims for additional damages were rejected. The decision applies strictly to the facts of the case, leaving unresolved questions regarding the legality of training and liability for generative outputs.

This article was originally written by the Intellectual Property Observatory team, to which we refer for the whole text.

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