AI and Copyright: The Robert Kneschke v LAION Appeal – Legal Update Webinar

CEPIC will host a legal webinar on Wednesday 29 January with photographer Robert Kneschke and his legal representative Sebastian Deubelli, focusing on the appeal of the Hamburg Regional Court decision in the Kneschke v LAION case.

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This session follows the webinar CEPIC hosted in December 2024, shortly after Robert Kneschke lodged his appeal against the Regional Court of Hamburg’s ruling in favour of LAION e.V. That decision controversially exempted LAION from copyright infringement for the use of protected images in training the LAION-5-B dataset, relying on Germany’s Section 60(d) copyright exception for scientific research.

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Why this appeal matters

While the Hamburg ruling has no binding precedent, it has already raised serious concerns across the creative and legal communities. The court’s interpretation of the text and data mining (TDM) exception, derived from the 2019 DSM Copyright Directive, risks setting a dangerous benchmark for the use of copyrighted works in AI training datasets, particularly where nonprofit research entities collaborate closely with commercial actors.

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The appeal now underway addresses several unresolved and critical questions, including:

• Whether the scientific research exception can legitimately apply to large-scale AI datasets that feed commercial AI systems
• The legal enforceability of opt-out mechanisms under EU copyright law
• Whether TDM and generative AI training should be treated as legally equivalent
• How creators can meaningfully retain control over their works when content is scraped from publicly accessible sources

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What to expect from the January webinar

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This upcoming session is designed primarily for lawyers, legal experts, and policy specialists, and will provide:

• An update on the status and legal arguments of the appeal
• A deeper examination of the copyright implications for AI training
• Practical insights into how this case may influence future litigation, enforcement, and policy discussions across Europe
• A focused legal discussion on the boundaries between research exemptions and commercial AI development

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CEPIC continues to support Robert Kneschke’s efforts to seek legal clarity and a creator-friendly framework for AI, and believes this case remains one of the most important copyright challenges currently facing the visual media sector.

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This webinar will be invitation-only, with attendance primarily aimed at legal professionals and invited stakeholders. Further details will be shared directly with invited participants. If you are interested in taking part in this webinar, please write to s.fodor@cepic.org

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For any further questions regarding this webinar, please contact l.fowler@cepic.org.

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