header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

NLJ this week: AI copyright clash

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
28 November 2025
Issue: 8141 / Categories: Legal News , Artificial intelligence , Intellectual property , Copyright , Technology
printer mail-detail
237026
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.

Issue: 8141 / Categories: Legal News , Artificial intelligence , Intellectual property , Copyright , Technology
printer mail-details
RELATED ARTICLES
 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
Read All
Conveyancers celebrate U-turn over mortgage handbook fee
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
Are you suited to a career in prosecution?
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
LSB marks Mazur homework
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
NLJ this week: When AI hallucinates, lawyers risk real-world sanctions
The dangers of uncritical artificial intelligence (AI) use in legal practice are no longer hypothetical. In this week's NLJ, Dr Charanjit Singh of Holborn Chambers examines cases where lawyers relied on ‘hallucinated’ citations — entirely fictitious authorities generated by AI tools
NLJ this week: Stuck in the past?
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll