The drug candidate shows promise in filling existing treatment gaps. A new experimental drug has been shown to lessen cell damage, inflammation, and organ injury linked to diabetes. In research led by scientists at NYU Langone Health, tests in mice revealed that the potential treatment stops two proteins, RAGE and DIAPH1, from interacting. This specific […]
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Artificial intelligence company Stability AI mostly prevailed against Getty Images Tuesday in a British court battle over intellectual property.
Seattle-based Getty had accused Stability AI of infringing its copyright and trademark by scraping 12 million images from its website, without permission, to train its popular image generator, Stable Diffusion.
The closely followed case at Britain’s High Court was among the first in a wave of lawsuits involving generative AI as movie studios, authors and artists challenged tech companies’ use of their works to train AI chatbots.
Tech companies have long argued that “fair use” or “fair dealing” legal doctrines in the United States and United Kingdom allow them to train their AI systems on large troves of writings or images. Tuesday’s ruling provides some clarity but still leaves big unanswered questions over copyright and AI, experts said.
According to the judge’s written ruling, Getty narrowly won its argument that Stability had infringed its trademark, but lost the rest of its case.
Both sides claimed victory.
“This is a significant win for intellectual property owners,” Getty Images said in a statement.
Shares of Getty dipped 3% before the opening bell in the U.S.
Stability, based in London, said it was pleased with the ruling.
“This final ruling ultimately resolves the copyright concerns that were the core issue,” Stability’s General Counsel Christian Dowell said.
Getty had accused Stability of both primary and secondary copyright infringement.
Legal experts said the first one involves the act of reproducing something without permission — similar to a dodgy factory churning out counterfeit Chanel handbags or pirated CDs — while the second involves importing those copies from another country.
In this case, Getty said Stability’s use of its image library to train and develop Stable Diffusion’s AI model amounted to breach of primary copyright. Stability responded that the case doesn’t belong in the United Kingdom because the AI model’s training technically happened elsewhere, on computers run by U.S. tech giant Amazon.
During the three-week trial in June, Getty dropped its primary copyright allegations, in a sign that it didn’t think they would succeed. But it still pursued the secondary infringement claims. Even if Stability’s AI training happened outside the U.K., Getty said offering the Stable Diffusion service to British users amounted to importing unlawful copies of its images into the country.
Justice Joanna Smith rejected Getty’s claims, ruling that Stable Diffusion’s AI didn’t infringe copyright because it doesn’t “store or reproduce any Copyright Works (and has never done so).”
Getty also sued for trademark infringement because its watermark appeared on some of the images generated by Stability’s chatbot.
The judge sided with Getty but added that the case only partially succeeded, and that her findings are “both historic and extremely limited in scope.”
“While I have found instances of trademark infringement, I have been unable to determine that these were widespread,” she said.
Experts said Getty’s move to drop part of its copyright case means AI training is still in legal limbo.
“The decision leaves the U.K. without a meaningful verdict on the lawfulness of an AI model’s process of learning from copyright materials,” said Iain Connor, an intellectual property partner at law firm Michelmores.
Smith said there was “very real societal importance” in deciding how to strike a balance between the creative and tech industries. But she added that the court can only rule on the “diminished” case that remained and couldn’t consider “issues that have been abandoned.”
A Getty spokeswoman declined to say whether there would be an appeal.
Getty is also pursuing a copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States against Stability. It originally sued in 2023 but refiled the case in a San Francisco federal court in August.
The Getty lawsuits are among a slew of cases that highlight how the generative AI boom is fueling a clash between tech companies and creative industries.
AI companies are now fighting more than 50 copyright lawsuits — so many that a tech industry lobby group has called on President Donald Trump for help stop the court fights, saying they threaten AI innovation.
Among the cases, Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit by authors while a federal judge dismissed a similar lawsuit from 13 authors against Meta Platforms. Warner Bros. has sued Midjourney for copyright infringement, as have Disney and Universal in separate lawsuits, alleging that its image generator creates copyrighted characters.
Published – November 05, 2025 10:16 am IST
A new analysis of the PANDA clinical trial reveals that the antidepressant sertraline improves certain emotional symptoms of depression and anxiety within two weeks of starting treatment. A new analysis led by researchers at UCL has found that one of the most widely prescribed antidepressants, sertraline, produces modest but meaningful improvements in key symptoms of […]
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FILE PHOTO: Nvidia joined Indian and U.S. investors backing the south Asian country’s deep-tech startups as the group added new members and secured more than $850 million in capital commitments to close a big funding gap.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Nvidia on Wednesday joined Indian and U.S. investors backing the south Asian country’s deep-tech startups as the group added new members and secured more than $850 million in capital commitments to close a big funding gap.
Qualcomm Ventures, Activate AI, InfoEdge Ventures, Chirate Ventures and Kalaari Capital are among the new investors joining the India Deep Tech Alliance.
It was launched in September with a $1 billion initial commitment to support companies in industries such as space, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and robotics.
As a founding member and strategic advisor to the group, Nvidia will provide technical guidance, training and policy input to help Indian deep-tech startups adopt its AI and computing tools.
The move is the latest effort to tackle what founders and analysts describe as chronic underfunding of the research-driven startups, which struggle to draw venture capital given their long development timelines and uncertain paths to profitability.
It comes days after the Indian government launched a $12 billion initiative to spur research and development in a country that is a services giant but still trails in manufacturing.
Deep-tech startup funding in India surged 78% to $1.6 billion last year, but still accounted for only about one-fifth of the $7.4 billion raised overall, according to a report by industry body Nasscom.
An Indian minister’s call in April for startups to emulate China by focusing on high-end technology rather than grocery deliveries had drawn backlash from entrepreneurs, who said the government needed to do more to support innovation.
Experts have said deep-tech investment is vital to build core technologies such chips and artificial intelligence that secure economic and strategic independence.
Sriram Viswanathan, founding managing partner at Celesta Capital, told Reuters the increasing government support meant that “there’s no better time for India to look at deep tech”.
Celesta, which has invested in startups including space-tech firm Agnikul Cosmos and drone maker IdeaForge, was among the investors that launched the alliance along with Accel, Blume Ventures, Gaja Capital, Premji Invest, among others.
The alliance’s members aim to deploy their own capital to Indian deep-tech startups over the next five to ten years while also providing mentorship and network access.
“There’s no real pooling of capital. It’s voluntary,” Viswanathan said, drawing parallels to Nasscom.
Published – November 05, 2025 10:24 am IST
FILE PHOTO: Palantir Technologies fell more than 8.3% in premarket trading, as another strong quarterly update from the company failed to extend its record-breaking rally.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Palantir Technologies fell more than 8.3% in premarket trading on Tuesday, as another strong quarterly update from the company failed to extend its record-breaking rally, setting it on track for its worst single-day loss since mid-August.
The company, which has more than doubled in value this year, forecast fourth-quarter revenue above market expectations on Monday, driven by a rapid AI adoption boosting demand for its data analytics services.
The company’s stock has been riding on its strong relationship with the U.S. government after it won a slew of contracts, including using Palantir’s data and AI technology in defence work.
Its shares are up more than 170% so far this year, after having surged around 1,000% in the past two years, sharply outpacing tech firms including Big Tech and AI giants Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet.
Palantir has emerged as a retail favorite over the years, with daily retail cash turnover of about $302 million as of last close, the third highest among U.S.-listed shares that Vanda Track Research monitors.
If current losses hold, the company is set to erase around $41 billion from its market value.
Palantir trades at nearly 250 times its 12-month forward earnings estimates, compared with AI chip frontrunner Nvidia’s 33 and Microsoft’s 29.92
Published – November 05, 2025 10:42 am IST
New research uncovers how the kidney-derived metabolite betaine mirrors exercise’s rejuvenating effects A study published in Cell by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xuanwu Hospital at Capital Medical University has revealed how exercise helps the body fight aging on a systemic level. The team also identified betaine, a metabolite produced by the […]
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FILE PHOTO: Spotify forecast fourth-quarter profit above Wall Street expectations betting on robust user growth and a boost from price hikes in the crucial holiday season.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Spotify forecast fourth-quarter profit above Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, betting on robust user growth and a boost from price hikes in the crucial holiday season.
These results mark the company’s first earnings report since the September announcement that founder-CEO Daniel Ek will transition to executive chairman in January.
The Swedish audio-streaming giant expects operating income of 620 million euros ($723.04 million) in the fourth quarter, above estimates of 618.6 million euros, according to LSEG-compiled data. It also beat third-quarter earnings expectations.
The company has leaned on price increases in recent years to drive earnings growth, confident that its ubiquity ensures users stick around. It raised the cost of its premium individual plan in more than 150 markets in the September quarter.
CEO Daniel Ek told Reuters that investment priorities center on top-line growth, driving user acquisition in emerging markets and expanding content to include more podcasts, videos and audiobooks.
“We think that there’s still a lot of room left for us to grow in our core business.”
To draw more users, Spotify rolled out features including a long-awaited high-quality streaming option called lossless audio. It has also tripled its audiobook catalog to 500,000 titles in 14 markets since launching them around two years ago, which the company said last month helped push up audiobook listeners and consumption hours by more than a third.
Spotify has also been doubling down on video content with nearly 500,000 video podcast shows now available on the platform.
In the third quarter, premium subscribers rose 12% to 281 million. Its monthly active users net additions of 17 million took the total to 713 million, exceeding expectations.
It forecast an 8 million increase in premium subscribers to 289 million, marginally below the estimate of 290.9 million, as it faces intense competition from Apple and Amazon’s music streaming offerings.
Its quarterly monthly active users forecast of 745 million was above an estimate of 737.3 million.
Its fourth-quarter revenue forecast of 4.5 billion euros was in line with estimates 4.57 billion, after third-quarter revenue topped expectations with a 7% rise.
Spotify’s shares were marginally down in volatile morning trading. The stock has risen around 44% this year.
Published – November 05, 2025 10:52 am IST
A University of Florida study found that optimism, good sleep, and social support can make the brain appear years younger than its chronological age. Your birth certificate might say 65, but your brain could be functioning as if it were ten years younger, or older, depending on how you live your life. That’s the main […]
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The case underscores French authorities’ tough line against Big Tech whether on antitrust or privacy grounds [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
Meta Platforms on Tuesday rejected a ruling by the French rights watchdog against its algorithm after allegations of discriminatory job advertisements on its social network Facebook.
The independent watchdog Defenseur des Droits (Defender of Rights) in an October 10 ruling said Meta’s system treats Facebook users differently because of their gender, making it a form of indirect discrimination based on sex.
It recommended Meta Ireland and Facebook France take measures to ensure that job ads are non-discriminatory, giving the U.S. tech giant three months to inform the French body of the measures.
The case underscores French authorities’ tough line against Big Tech whether on antitrust or privacy grounds.
“We disagree with this decision and are assessing our options,” a Meta spokesperson said.
Campaign group Global Witness together with French women’s rights organisations Foundation for Women (Fondation des Femmes) and Women Engineers (Femmes Ingénieures), which had complained to the rights body, welcomed the ruling.
“This appears to be the first time a European regulator has decided that a social media platform’s algorithm discriminates by gender, presenting a major step forward in holding these platforms accountable to existing law,” they said in a joint statement.
Published – November 05, 2025 11:03 am IST
U.S. tech giant Nvidia and Deutsche Telekom said Tuesday a one-billion-euro ($1.1 billion) industrial artificial intelligence hub will soon be launched in Germany, Europe’s latest bid to catch up in the global AI race.
The centre will enable companies in Europe, from major organisations to startups, to use AI in processes ranging from design to robotics via “secure” IT infrastructure on the continent, Germany’s biggest telecoms operator said.
The move marks an attempt by Europe to make up lost ground in the battle for AI dominance, with the United States and China currently in the lead.
It also comes amid a growing focus in Europe on so-called “data sovereignty” — ensuring citizens’ and industrial data is stored at home, where it can be protected under local laws, rather than handed over to foreign tech firms.
“Germany’s engineering and industrial strengths are legendary, and now it’s being supercharged by AI,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at a Berlin launch event for the project, which is due to go live in the first quarter of 2026.
Industry in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is especially concerned about speeding up adoption of AI to ensure it can keep pace internationally.
Deutsche Telekom boss Timotheus Hoettges said that “AI is a huge opportunity” at a time Germany, which has been mired in recession for two years, was facing challenges. “It will help to improve our products.”
The centre, based in the southern city of Munich, will be powered by thousands of Nvidia’s advanced AI chips and provide about 50 percent more power for AI in Germany, according to Deutsche Telekom.
The telecommunications operator is providing the physical infrastructure while German firm SAP is supplying the software platforms, including AI technologies, to run the site.
The centre will “guarantee the highest standards of data protection, security and reliability”, Deutsche Telekom said.
German industrial conglomerate Siemens, a partner in the project, said it will use the new centre to boost its own AI capabilities and to offer enhanced software services to clients.
Its customers like auto giants Mercedes-Benz and BMW will be able to conduct complex AI-powered simulations to help develop their vehicles, Siemens said.
Europe has in recent times stepped up its AI efforts.
The continent’s fastest supercomputer Jupiter was inaugurated in September in Germany, with researchers saying it could boost efforts to train AI models.
Worries about “data sovereignty”, and particularly an overreliance on U.S. tech giants, have escalated since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House this year.
Ties have frayed between the United States and Europe across a range of issues, including EU tech regulations, which Trump has repeatedly criticised.
In September, SAP called on Europe to catch up with the United States and build up its digital capabilities, stressing it was important that firms on the continent could rely on local IT services.
“We cannot wait five years,” SAP board member Thomas Saueressig said. “Europe is far behind.”
Published – November 05, 2025 11:04 am IST