*This post was authored by Daniel Lass, law clerk at Robinson+Cole. Daniel is not admitted to practice law.
In 2023, visual artists Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz filed a class action lawsuit against several Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies, alleging that the companies’ various AI models violated copyright law by using the artists’ work in their training data sets. In ruling on the defendants’ motion to dismiss in August 2024, Judge William Orrick, in the Northern District of California, permitted the plaintiffs’ copyright claims to proceed.
Not only did Judge Orrick find that the artists’ direct infringement claims could proceed, but he also denied the motion to dismiss the induced infringement claims. In his ruling, Judge Orrick distinguished the defendants’ AI models and VCRs, which were targets of prior copyright infringement suits. Unlike VCRs, which have other non-infringing uses and are not pre-loaded with infringing data when purchased by consumers, the judge found that the plaintiffs plausibly alleged that the AI models operate in a way that necessarily infringes on copyrighted works, and the plaintiffs’ induced copyright infringement claim could proceed.
As the case continues to discovery, McKernan has expressed optimism at potentially uncovering information about the AI models to possibly prove the plaintiffs’ case. Because this case is one of the first to challenge AI companies over alleged copyright infringement stemming from ingesting training data, the result of this case will likely have major implications on the AI and copyright landscapes.