Artists have been dealt a setback in their copyright fight against generative artificial intelligence (AI) firms after a class-action lawsuit against several of the firms was dismissed by a United States judge, citing a lack of evidence.

In an Oct. 30 order, California District Court Judge William Orrick said the copyright infringement suit against generative AI image service Midjourney, art platform DeviantArt and AI firm Stability AI was “defective in numerous respects,” granting earlier dismissal bids from the firms.

Highlighted excerpt of Orrick’s conclusive order. Source: CourtListener