The artists had claimed that Stability used billions of images from the internet, including theirs, without permission to train its AI system. The judge agreed with the companies that the images the systems created likely did not infringe the artists' copyrights. He allowed the claims to be amended but expressed skepticism that allegations based on the systems' output could survive without showing that the images were substantially similar to the artists' work. The judge also dismissed other claims from the artists, including that the companies violated their publicity rights and competed with them unfairly.
Key takeaways:
- A California federal court judge dismissed some claims from a lawsuit by visual artists accusing Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt of misusing their copyrighted work in their generative artificial intelligence systems.
- The judge allowed the artists to file an amended complaint against Midjourney and DeviantArt, and permitted artist Sarah Andersen to continue pursuing her key claim against Stability AI.
- The judge dismissed copyright infringement claims from artists Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz entirely, as they had not registered their images with the U.S. Copyright Office.
- The artists' attorneys stated their "core claim" survived and they were confident they could address the court's concerns about their other claims in an amended complaint to be filed next month.