iHub News
3月前
Shutterstock shares rise after DOJ approves Getty Images mergerFebruary 23, 2026 11:24 AM
IH Market News
Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) shares climbed about 5% on Monday, while Getty Images (NYSE:GETY) gained 7%, after the U.S. Department of Justice granted antitrust clearance for the companies’ proposed merger of equals.The DOJ completed its review and allowed the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act to expire without imposing conditions, the companies said, marking a key regulatory step toward combining two major providers in the stock imagery and digital content licensing industry.“We are very pleased with the DOJ’s decision in recognizing the merits of this transaction,” said Craig Peters, CEO of Getty Images. “With today’s DOJ clearance, we take a significant step forward in bringing together these two companies and unlocking opportunities to strengthen our financial foundation and invest in our future.”Shutterstock CEO Paul Hennessy added, “By combining our complementary strengths, we will be able to deliver even better service and support for customers and contributors over time.”The companies expect the merger to deliver meaningful cost synergies, particularly across selling, general and administrative expenses as well as capital spending once the transaction is completed.Regulatory review is still ongoing in the United Kingdom, where the Competition and Markets Authority released an interim report on February 19 as part of a Phase 2 investigation. Shutterstock and Getty Images said they continue to engage with the regulator ahead of a final ruling expected by April 19 and remain optimistic the outcome will align with decisions from U.S. and other international authorities.Both firms said they are continuing efforts to obtain the remaining approvals required to close the deal.Shutterstock stock price
Original: Shutterstock shares rise after DOJ approves Getty Images merger
tw0122
7月前
$2.26 ...The collaboration is part of a wider trend of digital platforms signing licensing deals with AI content providers to expand content access while respecting intellectual property rights and generating revenue.Perplexity also plans to include image credits and source links to educate users on the proper legal use of licensed content.AI firms' use of copyrighted content has drawn mounting scrutiny and has triggered lawsuits. Getty, which also licenses to platforms like iStock and Unsplash, has previously sued Stability AI over image scraping.Perplexity also has faced multiple copyright lawsuits from prominent publishers, including Japan's Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun, and has since introduced a revenue-sharing model, partnering with outlets like TIME, Der Spiegel and others.The licensing deal follows Getty's efforts to support AI-driven creativity, enabling users to generate visuals safely using licensed content in generative AI tools. (Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Sriraj Kalluvila...
cash4
3年前
Getty Images suing the makers of popular AI art tool for allegedly stealing photos
By Jennifer Korn
Updated 9:47 AM EST, Wed January 18, 2023
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/17/tech/getty-images-stability-ai-lawsuit/index.html
'Flood of cheating': Expert warns new tool will be a game changer for cheaters
03:52 - Source: CNN
New York
CNN
—
Getty Images announced a lawsuit against Stability AI, the company behind popular AI art tool Stable Diffusion, alleging the tech company committed copyright infringement.
The stock image giant accused Stability AI of copying and processing millions of its images without obtaining the proper licensing, according to a press release issued Tuesday. London-based Stability AI announced it had raised $101 million in funding for open-source AI tech in October and released version 2.1 of its Stable Diffusion tool in December.
“Getty Images believes artificial intelligence has the potential to stimulate creative endeavors. Accordingly, Getty Images provided licenses to leading technology innovators for purposes related to training artificial intelligence systems in a manner that respects personal and intellectual property rights,” Getty wrote in the statement. “Stability AI did not seek any such license from Getty Images and instead, we believe, chose to ignore viable licensing options and long standing legal protections in pursuit of their stand-alone commercial interests.”
Getty declined to comment further on the suit to CNN, but said that it requested a response from the AI firm before taking action. Stability
“Please know that we take these matters seriously. It is unusual that we have been informed about this intended legal action via the press,” a Stability AI spokesperson told CNN. “We are still awaiting the service of any documents. Should we receive them, we will comment appropriately.”
AI art and traditional media suppliers have struggled to coexist in recent months as computer-generated images grow more available and advanced, using human-created images and art as data training.
Once available only to a select group of tech insiders, text-to-image AI systems are becoming increasingly popular and powerful. These systems include Stable Diffusion and DALL-E, from OpenAI.
Shutterstock, a Getty Images competitor and fellow stock image platform, announced plans in October to expand its partnership with OpenAI, the company behind DALL-E and viral AI chat bot ChatGPT, and enhance AI-generated content while launching a fund to compensate artists for their contributions.
These tools, which typically offer some free credits before charging, can create all kinds of images with just a few words, including those that are clearly evocative of the works of many, many artists, if not seemingly created by them. Users can invoke those artists with words such as “in the style of” or “by” along with a specific name. Current uses for these tools can range from personal amusement and hobbies to more commercial cases.
In just months, millions of people have flocked to text-to-image AI systems which are already being used to create experimental films, magazine covers and images to illustrate news stories. An image generated with an AI system called Midjourney recently won an art competition at the Colorado State Fair, creating an uproar among artists, who are concerned that their art can be stolen by these systems without due credit.
“I don’t want to participate at all in the machine that’s going to cheapen what I do,” Daniel Danger, an illustrator and print maker who learned a number of his works were used to train Stable Diffusion, told CNN in October.
Stability AI founder and CEO Emad Mostaque told CNN Business in October via email that art is a tiny fraction of the LAION training data behind Stable Diffusion. “Art makes up much less than 0.1% of the dataset and is only created when deliberately called by the user,” he said.
CNN’s Rachel Metz contributed to this report.