Worth Knowing

The lawsuits hanging over AI tools today are about copyright and training data, not patents. Runway widened the promise it makes to enterprise customers to match: its infringement defense now reaches intellectual-property claims of any kind, where it used to cover only patent claims, and that promise sits outside the contract’s liability cap. It is a real upgrade, but a narrow one, because the promise covers claims that Runway’s service infringes someone’s IP, not claims that the work you generate or the material you feed in does.

In human terms: Your studio uses Runway Enterprise on client work. If a third party sues claiming the Runway service itself infringes their rights, Runway agrees to step in, cover the defense, and pay certain costs, and that promise now covers copyright and trademark claims, not just patents. The limits are where it gets real: Runway will not cover a claim that springs from your Inputs, and it makes no promise that your Outputs are clear to use. So the classic AI worry, that a generated clip copies something it should not, mostly stays with you. (Indemnification just means one side agrees to cover certain legal costs for the other.)

Why this matters: Copyright and training-data lawsuits are the live risk in AI right now, not patents, so moving the trigger from patents to all IP is the right direction, and keeping IP indemnity out of the liability cap gives it real teeth. The catch is what the promise reaches. It protects you when Runway’s service is what infringes. It does not protect you when the claim traces back to your Inputs, to an application you built on Runway, or to the legality of an Output, which Runway expressly does not warrant. For a studio weighing risk on client work, the upgrade is welcome, but it is not cover for the output-level copyright exposure that worries people most. Mechanics follow below:

The mechanics

•One clause, one telling word change.

BEFORE …a third party alleging that the Services infringes such third party’s patent rights (“Claim”).

AFTER …a third party alleging that the Services infringes such third party’s intellectual property rights (“Claim”).

•The promise sits outside the liability cap, which is favorable. The cap applies “except for … a Party’s IP indemnification obligations,” so IP defense is not limited to the usual ceiling of 12 months of fees.

•The promise is triggered only by a claim that “the Services infringes” a third party’s IP, and Runway “will have no liability … for any Claim that arises from ”your Inputs, your negligence or breach, unapproved modifications or combinations, or your own Customer Application."

•Separately, Runway disclaims output legality. It “makes no representations or warranties with respect to the legality of Outputs.”

•The “last updated” date moved from May 11 to June 1, 2026.