AI campaign against violence embroils fashion house in copyright lawsuit

A statement of claim against the fashion house Comme il Faut was filed Wednesday at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court for copyright infringement after the company uploaded a campaign created by AI. The lawsuit was filed by a photographer and creator of the photo series "Halutzim" ("Pioneers"), which documents the "hilltop youth" in the Jordan Valley.

The plaintiff claims he owns the copyrights to two photographs allegedly used in the Comme il Faut campaign. Last July, the company published a social fashion campaign on its website against violence in the West Bank, featuring four images created using artificial intelligence tools. At the center of the lawsuit are two photographs: one of a young man with red hair in a kippah and plaid shirt, and another of a young man with glasses, a kippah, and sidelocks carrying a kid goat. The plaintiff notes these photos were previously published with his credit in Bezalel publications and the Haaretz newspaper.

The plaintiff claims that a comparison between the original photos and the infringing images revealed that the fashion house took substantial parts of his work, cropped them, and integrated them into other images using AI tools:

"In the first image, the young man was integrated into a scene of fire, smoke, and security forces, and in the second, the kid goat was replaced with a red fuel canister inside a scene of fire and riots."

In another image, the figure of the young man with a fuel canister was integrated into a scene of police forces against the backdrop of the Azrieli towers. He claims this was done without his knowledge, consent, license, or payment, infringing his economic copyright. Additionally, the company failed to provide credit, and the cropping damaged the integrity of the works. He states that he demanded the removal of the publications a month ago, but the request was ignored.

Before the lawsuit, an interview with Comme il Faut owner Sybil Goldfiner was published on Ynet under the headline "Settlers, soldiers, and models: a fashion campaign against violence in the West Bank," which included the images with the caption: "AI simulation, courtesy of Comme il Faut." The plaintiff, represented by attorney Ariel Dubinsky, is demanding 100,000 shekels in compensation, as well as injunctions to remove the images. He argues that the use of AI tools does not validate the copying of photographs and does not absolve the defendant of liability.