Axel Scheffler, the Gruffalo illustrator, is seriously considering legal action against AI firms after saying they used his work without permission. He told London he has been in touch with a lawyer in Germany and wants the companies to stop using artists’ work.
He said the issue became personal after someone showed him digitally recreated images of his best-known characters in places such as Silicon Valley and Oktoberfest. Scheffler said the images looked like his mouse and his Gruffalo, while the rest of the picture was “completely created.”
Axel Scheffler and Germany
Scheffler said he is considering bringing the case in Germany, where he believes the European Union offers a more creator-friendly route. He also said he is acting after seeing other illustrators take legal action against AI companies.
Nick Buckland, an intellectual property lawyer at Lewis Silkin, said Germany could give creators a way to protect their work. He pointed to two cases in Germany in which music collecting societies won against AI companies by showing those firms had copied lyrics verbatim and presented them.
Lewis Silkin on copyright
Buckland said Scheffler would still need to establish that his copyright had been infringed. He said a distinctive character such as the Gruffalo could help that argument, but the legal test would turn on proof, not on the popularity of the work.
He also drew a line between copying and training. “Generative AI doesn't copy, it trains,” he said. That distinction is where disputes usually begin, because AI firms have argued that using copyrighted material to train models does not necessarily constitute copyright infringement.
The Gruffalo since 1999
Scheffler said he tried to ignore AI until he saw those images. “I was quite shocked. It's clearly my mouse, my Gruffalo, as close as they can do it, but the rest of the image is completely created - it's a clear theft of copyright,” he said.
He has illustrated The Gruffalo since 1999 and said he does not own a smartphone. Which AI company or companies he may pursue is not disclosed, so the immediate step is whether his talks with the lawyer in Germany turn into a filing there.
