“While the court’s decision clarifies that non-commercial AI research may qualify for certain exceptions, the broader applicability of these exceptions, particularly for commercial entities, remains unresolved.”
“虽然法院的判决澄清了非商业性人工智能研究可能符合某些例外情况，但这些例外情况的更广泛适用性，特别是对商业实体的适用性，仍未得到解决。”
In a landmark judgment with far reaching ramifications, a German court recently held that the copying of images by Large-scale Artificial Intelligence Open Network (LAION) – a nonprofit organization that provides datasets, tools and models to liberate machine learning research – did not infringe copyright law.
在一项具有深远影响的里程碑式判决中，德国一家法院最近裁定，大规模人工智能开放网络（LAION）--一家提供数据集、工具和模型以促进机器学习研究的非营利组织－－复制图片的行为没有违反版权法。
The Kneschke v. LAION case, heard by the Hamburg Regional Court, centered on LAION’s automatic downloading of images, including a copyrighted work by photographer Robert Kneschke, for AI training purposes.
Kneschke诉LAION案由汉堡地区法院审理，主要焦点在于LAION以人工智能训练为目的自动下载图片，这些图片其中包括摄影师罗伯特-克奈斯克（Robert Kneschke）拥有版权的作品。
In 2021, LAION, based in Hamburg, automatically downloaded images from the internet, including Kneschke’s photo from Bigstock, to create a dataset (LAION 5B) containing image-text pairs for training AI. Kneschke claimed LAION infringed his copyright by copying his image without permission to create a dataset that linked images with descriptive text. LAION had downloaded the photo from a licensed website to check if it matched the description using its software.
2021 年，总部位于汉堡的 LAION 自动从互联网上下载图片，包括从 Bigstock 下载 Kneschke 的照片，以创建一个数据集（LAION 5B），其中包含用于训练人工智能的图片与对应的文本。Kneschke 声称，LAION 公司未经许可复制了他的照片，用于创建将图像与描述性文本关联起来的数据集，侵犯了他的版权。LAION 从一个授权网站下载了照片，并通过软件检查照片是否与描述相符。
LAION denied the copyright infringement, arguing that its actions fell under one of the three copyright exceptions provided by German and EU law. The case focuses on whether copying an image to create an AI training dataset constitutes copyright infringement, not on AI model training or content generation.
LAION 公司否认侵犯版权，辩称其行为属于德国和欧盟法律规定的三种版权例外情况之一，本案的焦点应该在于复制图像以创建人工智能训练数据集是否构成版权侵权，而非人工智能模型训练或内容生成。
In September 2024, The Civil Chamber 10 of Hamburg Regional Court (Case No. 310 O 227/23) dismissed Kneschke’s copyright infringement claim against LAION. The judgment is provisionally enforceable, with the plaintiff bearing the legal costs.
2024 年 9 月，汉堡地区法院第 10 民事法庭（案件编号：310 O 227/23）驳回了 Kneschke 对 LAION 的版权侵权索赔。该判决暂时具有强制执行效力，由原告承担诉讼费用。
The ruling touches on a number of unresolved legal issues, such as whether AI data scraping qualifies as text and data mining and how rights holders can block such activities.
该判决涉及许多尚未解决的法律问题，如人工智能数据搜索是否属于文本和数据挖掘，以及权利人如何阻止此类活动。
Potential Exceptions
潜在的例外情况
Kneschke sought an order for LAION to cease reproducing his image for AI dataset creation, while LAION invoked three potential copyright exceptions under German and EU law:
Kneschke 要求 LAION 停止复制他的图像用于人工智能数据集创建，而 LAION 则援引了德国和欧盟法律规定的三种潜在版权例外情况：
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《德国版权法》（Urheberrechtsgesetz，“UrhG”）第 44a 条（临时复制行为）
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UrhG 第 44b 条（用于商业目的的文本和数据挖掘）
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UrhG 第 60d 条（用于科学研究的文本和数据挖掘）
Based on the arguments in the first hearing of the case in July 2024, it was widely expected that the case would be decided based on the general text and data mining (TDM) exception to copyright infringement in Section 44b UrhG. However, the court instead dismissed Kneschke’s claim on the basis of the "text and data mining for scientific research purpose" exception in section 60d UrhG.
根据 2024 年 7 月该案第一次听证会的辩论情况，人们普遍认为该案将根据《版权法》第 44b 条关于版权侵权的一般文本和数据挖掘 (TDM) 例外情况作出判决。然而，法院却根据《版权法》第 60d 条关于 “以科学研究为目的的文本和数据挖掘 ”例外情况驳回了 Kneschke 的诉讼请求。