In a recent legal development, artists pursuing copyright claims against generative artificial intelligence (AI) companies encountered a significant setback when a class-action lawsuit was dismissed by a United States judge, citing insufficient evidence to support their allegations. The ruling, delivered by California District Court Judge William Orrick on October 30, has raised questions about the ability of artists to protect their intellectual property in the age of AI.
The lawsuit targeted generative AI image service Midjourney, art platform DeviantArt, and AI firm Stability AI. Judge Orrick declared the suit “defective in numerous respects” and granted the firms’ requests for dismissal. However, he did allow one copyright infringement claim to proceed against Stability AI, granting the class action 30 days to potentially submit an amended suit with stronger evidence.
The lawsuit, initially filed in mid-January, alleged that Stability AI’s AI model, Stable Diffusion, had unlawfully collected billions of copyrighted images, including those belonging to the artists, to train its software. DeviantArt was also accused of incorporating Stable Diffusion on its platform, potentially copying millions of images without proper licensing and violating its own terms of service. Nevertheless, Judge Orrick cast doubt on the claim that AI-generated images constituted copyright infringement, asserting that it was “not plausible” that they were derived from copyrighted images. He demanded that the class demonstrate that the generated images bore a striking resemblance to the artists’ original work.
Additionally, some class members had their copyright claims dismissed because their images were not registered with the Copyright Office, which is typically a prerequisite for initiating a copyright infringement lawsuit.
This ruling carries broader implications for the ongoing legal battles between artists and AI firms. Similar copyright infringement allegations have been central in other legal actions, including the Author’s Guild’s class action against OpenAI, Universal Music Group’s suit against Anthropic, and Getty Images’ lawsuits against Stability AI in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
The outcome of this lawsuit highlights the complexities of copyright law in the digital age, where generative AI blurs the lines between original and derivative works. Artists seeking to protect their creative output will likely face ongoing challenges as the legal landscape continues to adapt to AI’s evolving role in the art world.
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