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Artists’ copyright claims tied to Google’s Imagen model survived an early motion to dismiss, but that ruling did not establish that Google infringed copyright or decide whether its training was fair use. The latest located order, dated September 29, 2026, says the consolidated case remained stayed, including discovery.
What the lawsuit is about
The litigation now called In re Google Generative AI Copyright Litigation combines the Leovy and Zhang actions. In their consolidated complaint, the plaintiffs allege that Google copied their registered works without permission to train generative AI models, including Imagen. Those assertions are allegations, not established facts.
The dispute is narrower than the claim that “AI art is illegal.” It concerns alleged copying during model training, whether the plaintiffs have viable copyright claims, and unresolved questions such as fair use. In the complaint, the plaintiffs did not allege that Google’s products reproduced their works in response to user prompts.
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Who sued Google?
The consolidated complaint names ten plaintiffs:
- Steve Almond
- Sarah Andersen
- Burl Barer
- Jessica Fink
- Kirsten Hubbard
- Hope Larson
- Mike Lemos
- Jill Leovy
- Connie McLennan
- Jingna Zhang
The complaint asserts claims on behalf of proposed classes. A proposed class is not the same as a court-certified class; the materials summarized here do not establish that a class has been certified.
What is Imagen?
The complaint describes Imagen as Google’s text-to-image diffusion model family, first released in May 2022, including Imagen, Imagen 2 and Imagen 3. The plaintiffs allege that the first version was trained on LAION-400M and say later versions were likely trained on LAION-5B. The court’s September 2025 order summarizes these as allegations; it does not establish which datasets Google used to train each model.
In simplified terms, a text-to-image model is trained on image-and-caption examples so it can generate images in response to written prompts. The legal dispute is whether copying or using protected works in the process of collecting data and training models violates copyright law or is legally permissible.
Why the LAION datasets matter
The plaintiffs rely in part on allegations connecting Imagen to LAION datasets. The complaint describes LAION-400M as a dataset of image-and-text pairs and alleges that it was used to train the first Imagen model. It calls LAION-5B a likely training dataset for later Imagen versions.
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The complaint attributes a figure of 5.8 billion image-caption pairs to LAION-5B, citing LAION’s 2022 paper. That number describes the dataset as cited in the complaint; it does not prove that Google used every item, or establish that Google used LAION-5B to train Imagen.
“Publicly available online” does not mean “public domain” or “licensed for any use.” At the same time, an image’s alleged presence in a dataset does not by itself establish infringement or prove that a generated output copied the image.
What the artists allege
The plaintiffs allege that Google copied and used protected works in connection with preparing training data and training generative AI models, including Imagen. Their claims raise questions about whether works were copied during collection or training, whether those uses were unauthorized, and whether Google has a defense such as fair use.
The complaint also raises questions about class treatment and the requested relief. These remain disputed matters. A court’s decision that a claim is plausible at the pleading stage is not a finding that the alleged conduct occurred or was unlawful.
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Training and generated images are different legal questions
The allegations about model training should not be confused with claims about a particular generated image.
| Issue | What it concerns | What this case’s complaint alleges |
|---|---|---|
| Training | Whether protected works were copied or used during dataset preparation or model development, and whether that use was legally permissible. | The plaintiffs allege copyright infringement in connection with model training, including Imagen. |
| Generated outputs | Whether a particular generated image reproduces protected expression from an existing work. | The court’s September 2025 order says the plaintiffs did not allege that Google products infringe by reproducing their works in response to prompts. |
| Liability and defenses | Which parties may be liable and whether a defense such as fair use applies. | The court allowed the direct infringement claims concerning Imagen to proceed at the pleading stage, but did not decide liability or fair use. |
Evidence that a work appeared in training data would not automatically prove that a later output infringes. Conversely, the absence of an output allegation does not resolve the separate training claims.
What the judge decided
On September 11, 2025, U.S. District Judge Eumi K. Lee ruled on Google’s motion to dismiss. The court concluded that the plaintiffs plausibly alleged copyright infringement as to PaLM, GLaM, LaMDA, Bard, Gemini and Imagen. The court dismissed with prejudice claims tied to several other models because the complaint did not allege facts connecting the plaintiffs’ works to those models. It also dismissed the vicarious copyright claims against Alphabet with prejudice.
Judge Lee wrote: “The Court concludes that Plaintiffs plausibly allege copyright infringement as to the following models: PaLM, GLaM, LaMDA, Bard, Gemini, and Imagen.” This was a pleading-stage ruling. It did not decide whether Google actually infringed copyright or whether its conduct was fair use.
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The order describes the alleged infringement as occurring during model training, not through Google products reproducing the plaintiffs’ works in response to prompts. It also declined at that stage to dismiss the request for injunctive relief, after finding that the plaintiffs plausibly alleged future harm that could be difficult to quantify.
Timeline of the Google case
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| April 26, 2024 | The Zhang action was filed against Google in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. |
| October 28, 2024 | The Zhang and Leovy actions were consolidated and renamed In re Google Generative AI Copyright Litigation. |
| December 20, 2024 | The consolidated complaint was filed, naming ten plaintiffs and asserting claims concerning Google’s generative AI models. |
| September 11, 2025 | The court ruled on Google’s motion to dismiss. Claims concerning Imagen and several other models were found plausible at the pleading stage; other model-related claims and vicarious claims against Alphabet were dismissed with prejudice. |
| February 18, 2026 | The court stayed the action, including discovery. |
| March 11, 2026 | A sealing order addressed filings concerning class certification and related motions. It did not decide class certification or the merits. |
| September 29, 2026 | A later order stated that the action remained stayed and denied without prejudice a discovery request filed before the stay. |
What the case does not mean
- It does not establish that Google infringed copyright by training Imagen.
- It does not decide whether Google’s training practices qualify as fair use.
- It does not establish that every item in a LAION dataset was used to train Imagen.
- It does not decide a claim that Google’s products reproduced the plaintiffs’ works in response to prompts; the complaint did not make that allegation.
- It does not establish that a proposed class has been certified.
- It does not mean that every AI-generated image infringes copyright.
- It does not decide the legality of every Google image-generation product.
How this differs from other AI copyright claims
This case is about claims against Google concerning its generative AI models, including Imagen. It is distinct from other lawsuits involving different defendants, models, pleadings and procedural histories. A ruling in a separate case is not a ruling in this one.
Why the Google case matters
The case may help clarify what evidence and detail artists must provide to pursue claims about copyrighted works used in model training. The September 2025 ruling allowed the Imagen-related direct claim to proceed beyond the motion-to-dismiss stage, but the court has not decided whether the alleged training use infringed copyright.
The case also illustrates why procedural rulings matter: surviving a pleading challenge means a claim may proceed at that stage, not that the plaintiff has proved it. The latest located order says the action remained stayed, so the underlying facts and legal questions remain unresolved.
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FAQ
Did artists win their lawsuit against Google Imagen?
No final win is established by the sources summarized here. The Imagen-related copyright claim survived Google’s motion to dismiss, which means it was plausible enough to proceed at that stage. It is not a finding that Google infringed copyright.
What did the judge decide?
On September 11, 2025, Judge Eumi K. Lee ruled that the plaintiffs plausibly alleged infringement as to Imagen and several other models. The order dismissed claims tied to other models and dismissed vicarious copyright claims against Alphabet with prejudice. It did not decide infringement or fair use on the merits.
Did Google use artists’ work to train Imagen?
The plaintiffs allege that Google used their works to train generative AI models, including Imagen. The court’s ruling allowed the Imagen-related claim to proceed at the pleading stage; it did not establish that the alleged use occurred or was unlawful.
Is the Google AI copyright case over?
The latest located order, dated September 29, 2026, says the action remained stayed, including discovery. That is not a final judgment for either side.
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