California judge allows artists' copyright claims against AI companies

U.S. District Judge William Orrick said the artists had plausibly argued that the companies had violated their rights by illegally storing their works on their systems.

Orrick also declined to dismiss related trademark claims, but dismissed others accusing the companies of unjust enrichment, breach of contract and violation of a separate U.S. copyright law.

The decision did not address the artists' core argument that the alleged misuse of their work to train AI systems directly infringes their copyrights, nor the central defense that AI companies use copyrighted material fairly.

The artists' lawyers, Joseph Saveri and Matthew Butterick, said in a statement that the decision was “a significant step forward for the case.”