A UK court has ruled that Getty Images' copyright dispute against leading artificial intelligence (AI) company Stability AI can move on to trial.

Dismissing Stable Diffusion creators contentions against the lawsuit, the court found merit in Getty's insistence that its copyright materials were used to train the company's AI models.

<h2>Stability AI vs Getty Images: The case</h2>

Getty Images has sued Stability AI, a competitor of the popular OpenAI, over the use of its copyrighted content. The US stock image provider alleges that Stability scrapped millions of its images online to train its image generation tool, called Stable Diffusion.

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Stability AI, which is valued at $1 billion (£790 million), attempted to have the case brought by Getty Images dismissed. It contended that its models were largely trained in Munich — by a team from Munich University, and not in the UK. This, it said, meant that the case should not be held in a British court.

"I am confident that no Stability employee based in the UK has ever worked on developing or training Stable Diffusion," said Stability CEO Emad Mostaque, as reported by the Telegraph.

<h2>Judge's decision</h2>

Casting doubt on Stability AI's claims, Justice Joanna Smith, as per the Telegraph report, suggested that evidence provided by Mostague may be "inaccurate, or incomplete".

"These documents raise the spectre that Mr Mostaque’s evidence is either inaccurate or incomplete; at the very least they suggest a conflict of evidence."

"The apparent inconsistencies between Mr Mostaque's evidence and other available evidence casts doubt over the credibility of his statements generally," read Judge Smith's judgement.

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Smith said that previous comments by the Stability CEO made during media appearances and YouTube interviews warrant a further investigation. She said that because of "unanswered questions" a full trial is needed, and that "Disclosure may establish that Mr Mostaque’s evidence is unimpeachable."

In a 2022 interview, Mostaque said that the company "fast-tracked" residency applications of Ukrainian and Russian developers to allow them to come to the UK.&nbsp;

Accusing Getty Images of "kicking up dust", Stability AI argued that the developers may have been working on other projects. It further said that the evidence provided by the stock image provider&nbsp;was "speculative".

(With inputs from agencies)

A UK court has ruled that Getty Images' copyright dispute against leading artificial intelligence (AI) company Stability AI can move on to trial. Dismissing Stable Diffusion creators contentions against the lawsuit, the court found merit in Getty's insistence that its copyright materials were used to train the company's AI models.

A UK court has ruled that Getty Images' copyright dispute against leading artificial intelligence (AI) company Stability AI can move on to trial. Dismissing Stable Diffusion creators contentions against the lawsuit, the court found merit in Getty's insistence that its copyright materials were used to train the company's AI models. Stability AI vs Getty Images: The case Getty Images has sued Stability AI, a competitor of the popular OpenAI, over the use of its copyrighted content. The US stock image provider alleges that Stability scrapped millions of its images online to train its image generation tool, called Stable Diffusion. Also read | Ancestry website 23andMe confirms recent data breach affected 6.9 million users Stability AI, which is valued at $1 billion (£790 million), attempted to have the case brought by Getty Images dismissed. It contended that its models were largely trained in Munich — by a team from Munich University, and not in the UK. This, it said, meant that the case should not be held in a British court. "I am confident that no Stability employee based in the UK has ever worked on developing or training Stable Diffusion," said Stability CEO Emad Mostaque, as reported by the Telegraph. Judge's decision Casting doubt on Stability AI's claims, Justice Joanna Smith, as per the Telegraph report, suggested that evidence provided by Mostague may be "inaccurate, or incomplete". "These documents raise the spectre that Mr Mostaque’s evidence is either inaccurate or incomplete; at the very least they suggest a conflict of evidence." "The apparent inconsistencies between Mr Mostaque's evidence and other available evidence casts doubt over the credibility of his statements generally," read Judge Smith's judgement. Also read | Barclay family reclaims Telegraph newspaper after Abu Dhabi aids with debt repayment Smith said that previous comments by the Stability CEO made during media appearances and YouTube interviews warrant a further investigation. She said that because of "unanswered questions" a full trial is needed, and that "Disclosure may establish that Mr Mostaque’s evidence is unimpeachable." In a 2022 interview, Mostaque said that the company "fast-tracked" residency applications of Ukrainian and Russian developers to allow them to come to the UK. Accusing Getty Images of "kicking up dust", Stability AI argued that the developers may have been working on other projects. It further said that the evidence provided by the stock image provider was "speculative". (With inputs from agencies)

Landmark Stability AI vs Getty Images copyright lawsuit to move ahead to trial

Just days after winning the copyright battle, British pop artist Ed Sheeran gave an interview to promote his new album and spoke about how the copyright dispute for his 2014 song Thinking Out Loud was recently resolved, with the pop star being found not guilty of plagiarising Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On.

Sheeran-Gaye copyright trial: Ed Sheeran reflects on his recent victory

The heirs of Ed Townsend, who wrote the 1973 slow jam classic "Let's Get It On" with Marvin Gaye, are suing the British singer-songwriter. They claim that Sheeran's 2014 song unlawfully appropriated the anthem's harmonic progressions, melodic structures, and rhythmic elements.

Ed Sheeran-Marvin Gaye copyright trial

Jury selection and opening statements are set to begin Monday in a trial that mashes up Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, sued Sheeran, alleging the English pop star’s hit 2014 tune has “striking similarities” to “Let’s Get It On” and “overt common elements” that violate their copyright.

The lawsuit filed in 2017 has finally made it to a trial that is expected to last a week in the Manhattan federal courtroom of 95-year-old Judge Louis L. Stanton. Sheeran, 32, is among the witnesses expected to testify.

“Let’s Get It On” is the quintessential, sexy slow jam that’s been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays over the past 50 years. “Thinking Out Loud,” which won a Grammy for Song of the Year, is a much more marital take on love and sex.

While the jury will hear the recordings of both songs, probably many times, their lyrics — and vibes — are legally insignificant. Jurors are supposed to only consider the raw elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that make up the composition of “Let’s Get It On,” as documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Sheeran’s attorneys have said the songs’ undeniable structural symmetry points only to the foundations of popular music.

“The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters,” they said in a court filing.

Townsend family attorneys pointed out in the lawsuit that artists including Boyz II Men have performed seamless mashups of the two songs, and that even Sheeran himself has segued into “Let’s Get It On” during live performances of “Thinking Out Loud.”

They sought to play a potentially damning YouTube video of one such Sheeran performance for the jury at trial. Stanton denied their motion to include it but said he would reconsider it after he sees other evidence that’s presented.

Gaye’s estate is not involved in the case, though it will inevitably have echoes of their successful lawsuit against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. over the resemblance of their 2013 hit “Blurred Lines” to Gaye’s 1977 “Got to Give it Up.”

A jury awarded Gaye’s heirs $7.4 million at trial — later trimmed by a judge to $5.3 million — making it among the most significant copyright cases in recent decades.

Sheeran’s label Atlantic Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing are also named as defendants in the “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit. Generally, plaintiffs in copyright lawsuits cast a wide net in naming defendants, though a judge can eliminate any names deemed inappropriate. In this case, however, Sheeran’s co-writer on the song, Amy Wadge, was never named.

Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&amp;B doo-wop hit “For Your Love,” was a singer, songwriter and lawyer. He died in 2003. Kathryn Townsend Griffin, his daughter, is the plaintiff leading the lawsuit.

Already a Motown superstar in the 1960s before his more adult 1970s output made him a generational musical giant, Gaye was killed in 1984 at age 44, shot by his father as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents.

Major artists are often hit with lawsuits alleging song-stealing, but nearly all settle before trial — as Taylor Swift recently did over “Shake it Off,” ending a lawsuit that lasted years longer and came closer to trial than most other cases.

But Sheeran — whose musical style drawing from classic soul, pop and R&amp;B has made him a target for copyright lawsuits — has shown a willingness to go to trial before. A year ago, he won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You,” then slammed what he described as a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.

“I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheeran said in a video posted on Twitter after the verdict. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”

The “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit also invokes one of the most common tropes in American and British music since the earliest days of rock ‘n’ roll, R&amp;B and hip-hop: a young white artist seemingly appropriating the work of an older Black artist — accusations that were also levied at Elvis Presley and The Beatles, whose music drew on that of Black forerunners.

“Mr Sheeran blatantly took a Black artist’s music who he doesn’t view as worthy as compensation,” Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who represents the Townsend family but is not involved in the trial, said at a March 31 news conference.

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Jury selection and opening statements are set to begin Monday in a trial that mashes up Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, sued Sheeran, alleging the English pop star’s hit 2014 tune has “striking similarities” to “Let’s Get It On” and “overt common elements” that violate their copyright.

Jury selection and opening statements are set to begin Monday in a trial that mashes up Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, sued Sheeran, alleging the English pop star’s hit 2014 tune has “striking similarities” to “Let’s Get It On” and “overt common elements” that violate their copyright. The lawsuit filed in 2017 has finally made it to a trial that is expected to last a week in the Manhattan federal courtroom of 95-year-old Judge Louis L. Stanton. Sheeran, 32, is among the witnesses expected to testify. “Let’s Get It On” is the quintessential, sexy slow jam that’s been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays over the past 50 years. “Thinking Out Loud,” which won a Grammy for Song of the Year, is a much more marital take on love and sex. While the jury will hear the recordings of both songs, probably many times, their lyrics — and vibes — are legally insignificant. Jurors are supposed to only consider the raw elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that make up the composition of “Let’s Get It On,” as documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Sheeran’s attorneys have said the songs’ undeniable structural symmetry points only to the foundations of popular music. “The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters,” they said in a court filing. Townsend family attorneys pointed out in the lawsuit that artists including Boyz II Men have performed seamless mashups of the two songs, and that even Sheeran himself has segued into “Let’s Get It On” during live performances of “Thinking Out Loud.” They sought to play a potentially damning YouTube video of one such Sheeran performance for the jury at trial. Stanton denied their motion to include it but said he would reconsider it after he sees other evidence that’s presented. Gaye’s estate is not involved in the case, though it will inevitably have echoes of their successful lawsuit against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. over the resemblance of their 2013 hit “Blurred Lines” to Gaye’s 1977 “Got to Give it Up.” A jury awarded Gaye’s heirs $7.4 million at trial — later trimmed by a judge to $5.3 million — making it among the most significant copyright cases in recent decades. Sheeran’s label Atlantic Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing are also named as defendants in the “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit. Generally, plaintiffs in copyright lawsuits cast a wide net in naming defendants, though a judge can eliminate any names deemed inappropriate. In this case, however, Sheeran’s co-writer on the song, Amy Wadge, was never named. Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit “For Your Love,” was a singer, songwriter and lawyer. He died in 2003. Kathryn Townsend Griffin, his daughter, is the plaintiff leading the lawsuit. Already a Motown superstar in the 1960s before his more adult 1970s output made him a generational musical giant, Gaye was killed in 1984 at age 44, shot by his father as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents. Major artists are often hit with lawsuits alleging song-stealing, but nearly all settle before trial — as Taylor Swift recently did over “Shake it Off,” ending a lawsuit that lasted years longer and came closer to trial than most other cases. But Sheeran — whose musical style drawing from classic soul, pop and R&B has made him a target for copyright lawsuits — has shown a willingness to go to trial before. A year ago, he won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You,” then slammed what he described as a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial. “I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheeran said in a video posted on Twitter after the verdict. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.” The “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit also invokes one of the most common tropes in American and British music since the earliest days of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B and hip-hop: a young white artist seemingly appropriating the work of an older Black artist — accusations that were also levied at Elvis Presley and The Beatles, whose music drew on that of Black forerunners. “Mr Sheeran blatantly took a Black artist’s music who he doesn’t view as worthy as compensation,” Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who represents the Townsend family but is not involved in the trial, said at a March 31 news conference. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Ed Sheeran hit, Marvin Gaye classic soul of copyright trial

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