Getty files lawsuit against Stability AI for copying 12M photos and duplicating famous watermark

Millions of images, including an exclusive archive of old photos and a larger collection of stock photos hosted on iStock, make up Getty Images' huge collection, which is well known. To stop the illegal usage and copying of its stock photos using AI, Getty filed a second lawsuit against Stability AI Inc. on Friday. According to the company's newest lawsuit filed in a US district court in Delaware, “Stability AI has copied more than 12 million photographs from Getty Images’ collection, along with the associated captions and metadata, without permission from or compensation to Getty Images, as part of its efforts to build a competing business.” Stability AI was accused by Getty of violating its "renowned trademarks" by copying Getty's watermark on some photos, removing Getty's copyright management information, and fabricating its own copyright management information. According to Reuters, Getty's second action against Stability AI was filed after the one in the UK last month. In addition to these cases, Stability AI is also the target of a class-action complaint from artists who say the firm trained its Stable Diffusion model on billions of pieces of art protected by copyright without paying them or getting their consent. Last month, Getty said in a statement that the company “believes artificial intelligence has the potential to stimulate creative endeavors,” but Stability AI has gone about potentially disrupting the company's stock imagery business in the wrong way. Rather than paying Getty for licenses to train its Stable Diffusion model “in a manner that respects personal and intellectual property rights,” Getty said that “Stability AI did not seek any such license from Getty Images” and seemingly “chose to ignore viable licensing options and long‑standing legal protections in pursuit of their stand‑alone commercial interests.”