Disney and Universal Sue Midjourney for AI-Generated Character Copyright Infringement

In landmark suit, Disney and Universal sue Midjourney for AI character theft

On Wednesday, Disney and NBCUniversal filed a lawsuit against AI image-synthesis company Midjourney, accusing the company of copyright infringement for allowing users to create images of characters like Darth Vader and Shrek, reports The Hollywood Reporter. The complaint, filed in US District Court in Los Angeles, marks the first major legal action by Hollywood studios against a generative AI company. Midjourney is a subscription image-synthesis service and community that allows its users to submit written descriptions called prompts to an AI model that generates new images based on them. It has been well-known for years that AI image-synthesis models such as the ones that power Midjourney have been trained on copyrighted artworks without rights holder permission. The lawsuit describes San Francisco-based Midjourney as a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" that enables users to generate what the studios call "AI slop" -- personalized images of copyrighted characters. Disney Enterprises, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century, Universal City Studios Productions, and DreamWorks Animation joined forces in the legal filing. "Piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing," said Disney general counsel Horacio Gutierrez in a statement. The studios claim Midjourney downloaded copyrighted content from the Internet using "bots, scrapers, streamrippers, video downloaders, and web crawlers" to train its AI model. The complaint includes dozens of visual examples showing Midjourney's outputs alongside the original copyrighted characters. According to the filing, users can simply type prompts like "Darth Vader at the beach" and receive "high quality, downloadable" images featuring Disney's copyrighted character. The studios provided evidence showing AI-generated versions of Yoda, Wall-E, Stormtroopers, Minions, and characters from How to Train Your Dragon.

In landmark suit, Disney and Universal sue Midjourney for AI...

AI slop and the hypocrisy of the same industry using it to replace human workers suing someone else over it aside (haven't forgotten your AI Vader yet, Disney - I'm sure it had lots of non Disney training data), I am once again forced to root for grifter tech bros in a lawsuit Those classic Disney animated films we watched as children? All based on "intellectual property" that had already passed into the public domain. And yet when it's Disney's copyrights at stake, somehow they last indefinitely.

Disney and Universal Sue AI Company Midjourney for Copyright Infringement

Disney and Universal have filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, alleging that the San Francisco-based AI image generation startup is a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" that generates "endless unauthorized copies" of the studios' work. There are already dozens of copyright lawsuits against AI companies winding through the US court system -- including a class action lawsuit visual artists brought against Midjourney in 2023 -- but this is the first time major Hollywood studios have jumped into the fray. The complaint includes dozens of images that purportedly demonstrate how Midjourney can conjure images featuring the studios' intellectual property. One image depicts Yoda from Star Wars holding a light saber, which it says was made by inputting the prompt "Yoda with lightsaber, IMAX." Another shows that typing "The Boss Baby" as a prompt allegedly resulted in an image of an animated child in a tuxedo closely resembling the protagonist of Universal's The Boss Baby franchise. "This is an extremely significant development," says IP lawyer Chad Hummel, who sees the compilation of images in the complaint as compelling evidence that "the output is not sufficiently transformative." Most AI companies facing lawsuits have argued that they are protected by the "fair use" doctrine, which allows for use of copyrighted works in certain circumstances; one of the main questions the courts ask is whether new work is "transformative," or adds a new meaning or message, when they make the fair use determination. Matthew Sag, a professor of law and artificial intelligence at Emory University, believes Midjourney will have a harder time making a fair use case than previous AI defendants. "The reason it's different is that Disney directly attacks the output of the model. It doesn't just use a few cherry-picked examples to prove that the model was trained on its works," he says. "It's going to be very difficult for a court or a jury to accept that it is transformative to take 1,000 pictures of Darth Vader and use them to produce even more pictures of Darth Vader. The lawsuit alleges that Disney and Universal have asked Midjourney to "adopt technological measures" to prevent its image generators from producing infringing materials, but that the company "ignored" their demands. Additionally, it alleges that Midjourney "cleaned" copies of Universal and Disney's work during the training process, which "necessarily included creating more copies of the materials." Midjourney did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity," Disney general counsel Horacio Gutierrez said in a statement. "But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing." Midjourney, like many other generative AI startups, trained its tools by scraping the internet to create large datasets of images, rather than seeking out specific licenses. In a 2022 interview with Forbes, CEO David Holz openly discussed the process. "It's just a big scrape of the internet. We use the open data sets that are published and train across those," he said. "There isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from. It would be cool if images had metadata embedded in them about the copyright owner or something. But that's not a thing; there's not a registry."

Disney and Universal lawsuit may be killing blow in AI copyright wars

Two huge movie studios are suing Midjourney, claiming the firm's AI has been trained on their copyrighted material - the entrance of the Hollywood giants into this legal fight could be a watershed moment for AI and copyright Disney and Universal have filed a lawsuit against AI image generator Midjourney alleging mass copyright infringement that enables users to create images that "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters". The action could be a major turning point in the legal battles over AI copyright infringement being negotiated by book publishers, news agencies and other content creators. Midjourney's tool, which creates images from text prompts, has 20 million users on its Discord server, where users type their inputs. In the lawsuit, the two movie-making giants share examples in which Midjourney is able to create images that uncannily resemble characters each company owns the rights to, such as the Minions, controlled by Universal, or the Lion King, owned by Disney. The companies allege those outputs could only be the result of Midjourney training its AI on their copyrighted material. They also say Midjourney "ignored" their attempts to remediate the issue prior to taking legal action. In the complaint, the companies say "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism." Midjourney did not immediately respond to New Scientist's request for comment. The lawsuit has been welcomed by Ed Newton-Rex at Fairly Trained, a non-profit organisation that promotes fairer training practices for AI companies. "This is a great day for creators around the world," he says. "Governments have shown worrying signs they might bend to big tech's intense lobbying by legalising IP theft - Disney weighing in makes this that much less likely." Newton-Rex claims Midjourney engineers once told him their actions were justified because art is "ossified". "Thankfully, this ludicrous defence wouldn't stand up in court," he says. Legal experts are equally forthright about Midjourney's likelihood of success defending the case. "It's Disney, so Midjourney are fucked, pardon my French," says Andres Guadamuz at the University of Sussex in the UK. Guadamuz points out that Disney's general approach to protecting its intellectual property - rarely, but firmly when it does - highlights the importance of its intervention. The movie companies acted months after other organisations, including news publishers, pursued AI firms over the alleged use of their proprietary creations. Many of those cases have settled after licensing agreements were reached between the AI companies and copyright holders. "Media conglomerates are more interested in infringing outputs. The models are getting so much better that it's now very easy to produce pretty much any character you can imagine," says Guadamuz. He thinks Disney waited because "unlike publishers, they're not looking for licensing agreements to survive". The involvement of two titans of the creative industry is revealing in itself and marks a watershed moment for AI and copyright, Guadamuz reckons. "The fact that they're going after Midjourney is telling," he says. The company is a minnow compared to larger AI firms because it only specialises in image generation. "This is a message to the larger players to get their act together and start implementing stronger filters, or they'll be next." Many large AI companies provide image generation tools within their chatbots, though they tend to more strictly police users' ability to create images incorporating copyrighted characters through blunt guardrails preventing them from even trying. The less likely alternative is that Disney, which made $91 billion in revenue last year, is seeking to get money from Midjourney. "This could also be a message to come to the table and start negotiating. AI isn't going away, so Disney may be setting this as a marker that they're open for business," says Guadamuz.

Disney, Universal Sue Midjourney Over AI Images, Calling It 'a Bottomless Pit of Plagiarism'

Katelyn is a writer with CNET covering social media, AI and online services. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in media and journalism. You can often find her with a novel and an iced coffee during her time off. Disney and several of its entertainment companies filed a lawsuit against popular AI creative service Midjourney on Wednesday, alleging the AI company committed copyright infringement. It's a big move from a power player that will no doubt create ripple effects across the AI and entertainment industries, and all the way to what you can create using AI tools. Midjourney is one of many AI image generators that use generative AI text-to-image technology. With an account, anyone can use its models to create digital images. Many AI image generators have policies and internal guardrails that prevent people from being able to recreate brand logos, celebrity likenesses and other kinds of recognizable and sometimes copyrighted material. Disney is alleging that Midjourney did not take these precautions, even after it reached out to express its concerns. Disney wrote in the lawsuit that Midjourney's AI image and video generation tech "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters" without proper licensing or having a hand in their original creation. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the lawsuit alleges. Disney's 100-plus-page lawsuit details the ways that Midjourney enables its users to recreate characters that belong to Disney's different worlds, like Marvel and Star Wars. It includes examples of images the company was able to generate that feature some of its iconic characters, including those from Shrek, Star Wars and Pixar's How to Train Your Dragon. Midjourney did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. Copyright is one of the core legal and ethical issues in AI, and this is far from the first major lawsuit between entertainment companies and AI companies. There's an ongoing class action lawsuit from a collection of artists, led by Karla Ortiz, against Stability AI. Publishers like The New York Times are also concerned, suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) At the same time, some entertainment companies are slowly exploring ways to integrate AI into their creative workflows. Disney has been fairly mum about AI, not endorsing or making partnerships like its peers at Lionsgate but not publicly ruling out the possibility either. That possibility is reflected in the statement Disney made to CNET via email. "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity," Horacio Gutierrez, senior executive vice president and chief legal and compliance officer, said in the statement. "But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing." Read More: Inside Hollywood's AI Power Struggle: Where Does Human Creativity Go From Here? Today's lawsuit marks a path forward for Disney and adds another component to an already tangled legal web. "The lawsuit filed by Disney and Universal is important in drawing a line in the sand with AI developers like Midjourney," Robert Rosenberg, an intellectual property lawyer and former general counsel at Showtime Networks, said in an email. "As the lawsuit explains, the only way the AI platforms can output an image of Yoda, Shrek or Darth Vader is because they have trained their model by ingesting copyrighted images of these characters. They are not inventing new characters here." For now, we'll have to wait and see how this case and the other court cases progress. In the meantime, Midjourney users and other AI users are able to continue using those services.

Disney and Universal sue Midjourney for making AI ripoffs of their biggest characters

Hayden Field is The Verge's senior AI reporter. An AI beat reporter for more than five years, her work has also appeared in CNBC, MIT Technology Review, Wired UK, and other outlets. Disney and Universal sued Midjourney on Wednesday for generating Shrek, Darth Vader, Buzz Lightyear, and a host of other copyrighted characters in the first major legal showdown between Hollywood and generative AI. The complaint, filed in a US District Court in central California, calls Midjourney's AI image generator a "virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies of Disney's and Universal's copyrighted work." "By helping itself to Plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the lawsuit states. For example, if a Midjourney subscriber prompts the AI tool to generate an image of Darth Vader, it immediately obliges, according to the plaintiffs, and the same occurs for images of Minions. Disney and Universal included dozens of example images, such as Yoda, WALL-E, Deadpool, Iron Man, Lightning McQueen, Aladdin, Spider-Man, Groot, Elsa from Frozen, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Star Wars characters including Stormtroopers, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO -- all allegedly generated by Midjourney. Disney and Universal claim in the lawsuit that Midjourney uses such copyrighted characters to market and promote its tools. They also allege that Midjourney has so far ignored the companies' demands to stop infringing on copyrighted material, even as other AI image- and video-generation services have adopted copyright protections like rejecting certain prompts and screening for copyright infringement. Midjourney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. One particular sticking point for the plaintiffs: Midjourney's soon-to-be-released video generator. The plaintiffs wrote that they believe Midjourney's video AI tool "will generate, publicly display, and distribute videos featuring Disney's and Universal's copyrighted characters," adding that since Midjourney has already begun training the tool, the company is "very likely already infringing Plaintiffs' copyrighted works in connection with its Video Service." Disney and Universal are calling for a jury trial. "This case is not a 'close call' under well-settled copyright law," the plaintiffs write, adding, "That is textbook copyright infringement." Although it's the first major legal action coming from Hollywood in such a case, it's far from the first accusing an AI company of copyright infringement.It's becoming more and more common for publishers and content creators to sue AI companies over allegedly training on or copying their creative works. OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, has been on the receiving end in a high-profile way after a lawsuit from The New York Times, as well as a class-action lawsuit from a group of authors including George R.R. Martin, and a lawsuit from the publishers of newspapers including The New York Daily News and The Chicago Tribune. Anthropic, the OpenAI rival behind the Claude chatbot, has been sued by a group of authors, as well as Universal Music and, last week, Reddit.

Disney, Universal Sue Midjourney for Creating 'Bottomless Pit of Plagiarism'

A new hazard has materialized in Midjourney's path: a copyright lawsuit brought by Disney and Universal on Wednesday that accuses the AI image-generation platform of duplicating the copyrighted work of the two entertainment giants. In the suit, Disney's studios -- Disney Enterprises, Marvel Characters, MVL Film Finance, Lucasfilm Ltd., and Twentieth Century Fox Film -- as well as Universal's Universal City Studios Productions and DreamWorks Animation describe Midjourney as "a virtual vending machine" that spits out near copies of their characters. The 110-page complaint alleges that the Bay Area startup first engaged in extensive scraping of the studios' content to train its algorithms, allowing Midjourney to generate impressively accurate renditions of such Disney and Universal characters as Darth Vader, Bart Simpson, Iron Man, and Shrek, even in response to generic prompts like "popular 90's animated cartoon with yellow skin." (The extensive screengrabs showing Midjourney's output next to Disney and Universal still images make this the most colorful legal filing we have seen yet.) "By helping itself to Plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the complaint reads. Disney and Universal cite a January 2024 piece in IEEE Spectrum by Gary Marcus and Reid Southen about "plagiaristic outputs" from generative-AI systems, as well as 2022 interviews of Midjourney CEO David Holz by Forbes and The Verge in which he described an indiscriminate scraping process that ignored copyright considerations. Under copyright law, a fictional character itself, not just the creative work in which it appears, is entitled to legal protection until it enters the public domain, a point that is decades away for the cast covered in the Disney-Universal suit. The complaint contrasts Midjourney's prolific creation of lookalike images of Disney and Universal characters with the service's enforcement of provisions banning nudity and images of political candidates. And it says that aside from one acknowledgment of a cease-and-desist letter from Disney's legal counsel, Midjourney did not respond to the studios before they sued. Disney and Universal's suit ends with an open-ended request for damages, the restitution of Midjourney's profits, and an injunction permanently barring the company from copying or recreating the studios' content. Midjourney did not immediately respond to a Wednesday request for comment. Reframing the AI Copyright Argument The service offers a variety of subscription plans, starting at a "Basic" offering at $10 a month or $96 a year. It debuted in 2022 as a service hosted on a Discord server and quickly drew interest among creative types intrigued by the possibilities of generative AI; last year, Midjourney opened direct access on its own site. From the get-go, "gen AI" has raised ethical questions about both how AI platforms must ingest vast volumes of copyrighted work and how closely their output can duplicate those originals. "The supply chain for generative AI technology implicates a number of novel and complex questions of copyright law, particularly around fair use, whose answers are hard to predict in advance," emailed Blake Reid, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School. "But this complaint's rhetoric and dozens of pages of generative AI outputs juxtaposed with familiar characters strike me as an effort to reframe the issues in much simpler terms" -- a straightforward case of plagiarism, Blake says. Some lawsuits about gen AI have already been making their way through the courts. In February, a federal judge ruled for Thomson Reuters in holding that an AI service's copying of content from that company's Westlaw platform did not constitute "fair use" under copyright law. In March, another judge allowed a copyright-infringement suit brought against Meta by a group of authors, including Sarah Silverman and Ta-Nehisi Coates to proceed. PCMag's parent company Ziff Davis is among the publishers pursuing litigation against AI platforms, having filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025 alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Disney, Comcast Sue AI Image Generator Midjourney

Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp. teamed up to sue Midjourney Inc., accusing the startup of copyright infringement in the latest sign of tension between major media companies and a new crop of artificial intelligence businesses. Midjourney, which launched publicly in 2022, allows people to create vivid, AI-generated images using prompts. Like its competitors ChatGPT and Stability AI, Midjourney built its AI models with datasets that pull imagery from across the internet. While the companies argue that the practice is legal under the fair use doctrine of US copyright law, it has stoked outrage and lawsuits from a wide range of creative businesses.

Disney, Universal sue image creator Midjourney for copyright infringement

LOS ANGELES, June 11 (Reuters) - Walt Disney (DIS.N), opens new tab and Comcast's (CMCSA.O), opens new tab Universal filed a copyright lawsuit against Midjourney on Wednesday, calling its popular AI-powered image generator a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" for its use of the studios' best-known characters. The suit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios, making and distributing without permission "innumerable" copies of characters such as Darth Vader from "Star Wars," Elsa from "Frozen," and the Minions from "Despicable Me". The studios claim the San Francisco company rebuffed their request to stop infringing their copyrighted works or, at a minimum, take technological measures to halt the creation of these AI-generated characters. Instead, the studios argue, Midjourney continued to release new versions of its AI image service that boast higher quality infringing images. Midjourney recreates animated images from a typed request, or prompt. In the suit filed by seven corporate entities at the studios that own or control copyrights for the various Disney and Universal Pictures film units, the studios offered examples of Midjourney animations that include Disney characters, such as Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, Marvel's Iron Man soaring above the clouds and Pixar's Buzz Lightyear taking flight. The image generator also recreated such Universal characters as "How to Train Your Dragon's" dragon, Toothless, the green ogre "Shrek," and Po from "Kung Fu Panda." "By helping itself to plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the suit alleges. "Midjourney's infringement is calculated and willful." Disney and Universal asked the court for a preliminary injunction, to prevent Midjourney from copying their works, or offering its image- or video-generation service without protections against infringement. The studios also seek unspecified damages. The suit alleges Midjourney used the studios' works to train its image service and generate reproductions of their copyrighted characters. The company, founded in 2021 by David Holz, monetizes the service through paid subscriptions and generated $300 million in revenue last year alone, the studios said. This is not the first time Midjourney has been accused of misusing artists' work to train their AI systems. A year ago, a California federal judge found that 10 artists behind a copyright infringement suit against Midjourney, Stability AI and other companies had plausibly argued these AI companies had copied and stored their work on company servers, and could be liable for using it without permission. That ruling allowed the lawsuit over the unauthorized use of images to proceed. It is in the process of litigation. In a 2022 interview with Forbes, CEO Holz said he built the company's database by performing "a big scrape of the Internet." Asked whether he sought consent of the artists whose work was covered by copyright, he responded, "there isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from." Editing by Sam Holmes Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Media & Telecom

Disney and Universal sue AI image company Midjourney for unlicensed use of Star Wars, The Simpsons and more

It is the first AI copyright lawsuit from Hollywood giants. The lawsuit claims that the company used and distributed AI-generated characters from the movie studios like Star Wars, The Simpsons and other films and alleges that Midjourney disregarded requests to stop. Disney and Universal are demanding a jury trial, arguing that the actions threaten to "upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law." "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the movie studios said, calling the actions "calculated and willful." The rise of AI has raised the stakes in the media industry, and sparked concerns over how to protect content from illegal copyrighting. This is one of the most significant copyright legal battles to date involving AI. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court Central District of California.

Disney and Universal Studios file suit against Midjourney for copyright infringement

The scathing complaint includes AI-generated images from numerous infringed properties. Disney and NBCUniversal have filed a joint suit against AI company Midjourney alleging copyright infringement on their various properties. The complaint, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, includes images created by Midjourney that feature a wide variety of protected characters from each company's various properties, including Star Wars, Shrek, The Simpsons, Despicable Me and others. The 110-page suit alleges that the AI company "helped itself to countless" copyrighted works when training its models that have been creating and disseminating "innumerable" copies of these characters via AI-generated images. In the lawsuit Midjourney is described as "the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism." Disney and NBCUniversal are the first major Hollywood players to enter the now crowded field of AI copyright infringement lawsuits; it comes against the backdrop of similar lawsuits against , and . The intersection of art and artificial intelligence continues to be battled out in court, though a suit brought by two of the largest names in media properties carries immense weight. "We are bullish on the promise of A.I. technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity," , Disney's general counsel, in an email to The New York Times. "But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an A.I. company does not make it any less infringing." In a separate email to , Kim Harris, general counsel for NBCUniversal, said, "We are bringing this action today to protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content." We've reached out to Midjourney for comment and will update if we hear back.

Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement

NEW YORK (AP) -- Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI. Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute "endless unauthorized copies" of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney could not immediately be reached for comment. The small startup is one of a crop of research labs enabling people to experiment with AI-generated visuals and text.

Artificial intelligence: Disney and Universal sue Midjourney over copyright

Midjourney's image generator makes images from typed requests or prompts. In the lawsuit filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the studios gave examples of Midjourney-generated images that included Disney characters such as Star Wars' Yoda and Marvel's Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. Disney's chief legal officer Horacio Gutierrez said the firm was "optimistic" about how AI "can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity". "But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing," he said. In the complaint, Disney and Universal said Midjourney made $300m (£221m) last year alone and is planning a "soon-to-be-released video service". Syracuse University law professor Shubha Ghosh said: "A lot of the images that Midjourney produces just seem to be copies of copyright characters that might be in new locations or with a new background." "It doesn't seem like they're being transformed in a creative or imaginative way." He added that there is a recognition in copyright law that creativity can build on other works as long as it adds something new. Randy McCarthy, head of the IP Law Group at US law firm Hall Estill said: "No litigation is ever a slam dunk, and that is true for Disney and Universal in this case." "There are several issues such as terms of service provisions by Midjourney, and basic fair use analysis, that will need to be sorted out by the court before we can determine the likely outcome," he added. Midjourney did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment. On its website, the San Francisco-based startup says it has a "small self-funded team" with less than a dozen full-time staffers. It refers to itself as "an independent research lab." The firm is run by David Holz, who previously founded a hardware sensor firm called Leap Motion. Midjourney lists former Github chief executive Nat Friedman and Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life, among its advisors. Hollywood sees both potential upsides and downsides to AI. It was only two years ago that actors and writers shut down the entertainment industry hub with strikes demanding protections against new technology. But now AI is being used more in TV, films and video games. Two movies competing at the Oscars used AI to alter voices: Emilia Perez and The Brutalist. The technology has also been used to de-age actors like Tom Hanks and Harrison Ford.

Disney and Universal Sue A.I. Firm Midjourney for Copyright Infringement

Disney and Universal sued a prominent artificial intelligence start-up for copyright infringement on Wednesday, bringing Hollywood belatedly into the increasingly intense legal battle over generative A.I. The movie companies sued Midjourney, an A.I. image generator that has millions of registered users. The 110-page lawsuit contends that Midjourney "helped itself to countless" copyrighted works to train its software, which allows people to create images (and soon videos) that "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters." "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the companies said in the lawsuit, which was filed in United States District Court in Los Angeles. Midjourney could not immediately be reached for comment. A.I. startups like Midjourney, which was founded in 2022, train their software with data scraped from the internet and elsewhere, often without compensating creators. The practice has resulted in lawsuits from authors, artists, record labels and news organizations, among others. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied those claims, saying their actions fall under "fair use.") But Disney and Universal are the first major Hollywood studios to file copyright infringement lawsuits. Creative workers in the entertainment capital have been increasingly frustrated about studio silence on the matter. "They have not protested the theft of this copyrighted material by the A.I. companies, and it's a capitulation on their part to still be on the sidelines," Meredith Stiehm, president of the Writers Guild of America West, told The Los Angeles Times in February. The Midjourney lawsuit indicates that Disney and Universal, the two most powerful traditional entertainment companies, have been biding their time. While taking detailed aim at Midjourney for infringing on prominent characters like Darth Vader, the Minions, the "Frozen" princesses, Shrek and Homer Simpson, the lawsuit reads like a shot across the bow to A.I. companies in general. "We are bullish on the promise of A.I. technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity," Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's general counsel, said in an email. "But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an A.I. company does not make it any less infringing." Kim Harris, general counsel of NBCUniversal, which includes the Universal movie studio, said in a separate email, "We are bringing this action today to protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content." This is breaking news. Check back for updates.

How Disney's AI lawsuit could shift the future of entertainment

A battle has been raging between AI companies and copyright holders. Disney and Universal just stepped into the ring. The battle over the future of AI-generated content escalated on Wednesday as two Hollywood titans sued a fast-growing AI start-up for copyright infringement. Disney and Universal, whose entertainment empires include Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel and Despicable Me, sued Midjourney, claiming it wrongfully trained its image-generating AI models on the studios' intellectual property. They are the first major Hollywood studios to file copyright infringement lawsuits, marking a pivotal moment in the ongoing fight by artists, newspapers and content makers to stop AI firms from using their work as training data -- or at least make them pay for it. As AI rapidly develops, tech companies have raced to build and monetize tools that generate Hollywood-grade images and videos. Now these tools are poised to transform moviemaking and the entertainment industry in coming years, experts say, and this lawsuit represents a bid by some of Hollywood's giants to secure their place in that future. "It's sort of a 'finally' moment," said Chad Hummel, principal at the Los Angeles office of the law firm McKool Smith. Previously, entertainment giants had stayed on the sidelines even as researchers documented how AI tools could be used to generate apparently infringing content. Now they've entered the fray in a big way. Midjourney is one of a handful of AI generators that has captured the world's imagination by letting users spin up images on demand. What started as a novelty quickly became a major source of online content, as people used Midjourney and other generators such as OpenAI's Sora and Stable Diffusion to generate everything from memes to pornography to reimaginations of popular characters from movies and TV. But the resulting images don't come from a vacuum -- the AI models are trained by ingesting millions of words and images from across the internet, including copyrighted work from individual artists and entertainment studios. AI companies claim that their generators are spitting out entirely new creations and that the training data falls under "fair use" according to copyright law. Artists and midsize media companies have pushed back, saying the AI is stealing their work. Disney and Universal's lawsuit frames the issue as a matter of good versus evil, calling Midjourney "a bottomless pit of plagiarism." AI industry advocates counter that legacy media companies are standing in the way of a technological advance that could unleash a wave of creativity. Midjourney did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the companies allege that Midjourney "seeks to reap the rewards" of Disney's creative work by selling an AI image service that "functions as a virtual vending machine, generating unauthorized copies of Disney's and Universal's copyrighted works." Indeed, AI-generated content depicting beloved -- and copyrighted -- characters such as Mario, Shrek or Winnie the Pooh has circulated online, at times going viral on social media and spawning a new approach to fan art. Star Wars junkies, for instance, no longer have to comb the web for stories and visuals based on their favorite characters -- they can use an AI video generator to create an original 11-minute Star Wars movie with photorealistic sets and characters. AI video still isn't advanced enough to produce passable full-length films or TV shows, Washington Post tests found. That might be why copyright holders waited to file lawsuits against AI video generators, said James Grimmelmann, a law professor at Cornell University. While AI audio can now produce songs that sound human-generated, AI video hasn't made that leap, he said. OpenAI's Sora, for example, can only generate content roughly a minute long. And although the speed and fluency is a remarkable improvement compared to older models, it doesn't offer the kind of fine-grained controls directors and studios need, according to Grimmelmann. But production companies are already using AI for preproduction brainstorming, special effects and on-screen images. The quality of AI-generated content has improved rapidly since OpenAI first released its image generator DALL-E in 2021, with companies including OpenAI and Google now offering video generators to the public. Many believe it's a matter of time before content that's entirely AI generated makes its way into mainstream entertainment. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing film and TV actors, has struck deals with voice AI companies allowing actors to license their voices, and this week the union reached a tentative agreement with a collection of video game companies to pay actors if their voices or likenesses appear in AI-generated games. "Patience and persistence has resulted in a deal that puts in place the necessary A.I. guardrails that defend performers' livelihoods in the A.I. age," the union said in a blog post Monday. Meanwhile, a new class of AI start-ups such as Moonvalley and Runway are already working with Hollywood studios to integrate AI into the production process, the companies have said. This lawsuit is the latest in a barrage by rightsholders -- including artists, authors and media companies -- alleging infringement by AI firms. Among the highest-profile cases is one filed by the New York Times against OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. At the same time, many are signing multimillion-dollar licensing deals with AI firms granting them full access to their content -- for a price. (The Washington Post has a content-sharing deal with OpenAI.) The Disney and Universal suit takes a different tack from other lawsuits, demanding that Midjourney filter what it generates rather than avoid scraping the studios' intellectual property altogether. "This one seems more aimed at establishing the kind of expectations that copyright owners have of non-AI platforms: You need to take down obvious copies of our works," said Grimmelmann. What the movie studios don't want, according to Hummel, is for tech firms to be able to cut them out of the equation by training models on their work without having to pay for it. "This is not going to be Hollywood trying to shut down generative AI," Hummel said. "It's about compensation." Already, many visual artists are feeling the effects of AI's entry, said Jon Lam, a video game artist and creators rights activist. He said he has watched his circle of professional contacts struggle to find work when AI can replicate different art styles with the click of a mouse. Wednesday's lawsuit was "a huge confidence boost" for creatives like Lam hoping for an upset that stops film, TV and video game studios from drawing on artists' work without paying them, he said. A win for Disney and Universal wouldn't necessarily protect artists in the entertainment industry from getting replaced by AI, said Ben Zhao, a professor of computer science at University of Chicago who helped build Glaze, a software tool that protects visual art from AI mimicry. But it could drastically limit the material that AI tools can draw from, he said. Without fresh data, AI generators would regurgitate the same visual ideas over and over, Zhao said, making them less useful for production companies. In that sense, both AI companies and entertainment studios rely on artists who produce new work and make a living wage. Some tech industry leaders have argued that creating tools such as ChatGPT would be impossible if they couldn't be trained on copyrighted data -- and that requiring AI companies to pay every creator would stall an AI boom that promises vast economic benefits. Studios such as Disney and Universal should embrace AI video rather than suing to stop it, said Adam Eisgrau, who leads a program on AI, creativity and copyright for the Chamber of Progress, a center-left trade group that represents technology companies including Midjourney. "My initial reaction is that the movie industry has a long history and a short memory," Eisgrau said. He compared the lawsuit to one decades ago in which studios sued the makers of videocassette players and lost -- which he said was "lucky for them," because they ended up profiting greatly from the technology. Meanwhile, each step forward for AI video is met with rapt attention from fans of the tech. A clip posted Sunday in the Reddit forum r/aivideo showed a short trailer for a nonexistent movie -- one with visual references starkly similar to science fiction series such as Star Wars. "Please turn this into a feature film. It would be freaking crazy," one commenter said. "That's the plan!" replied the poster. Nitasha Tiku contributed to this report.

In first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Hollywood giants sue AI firm for copyright infringement

The lawsuit juxtaposes images of copyrighted characters, such as Disney's Homer Simpson, shown above on the right, beside images output by Midjourney, left. Disney Enterprises, Inc., Marvel Characters, Inc., MVL Film Finance LLC, Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, and Universal City Studios Productions LLLP and DreamWorks Animation v. Midjourney, Inc. hide caption toggle caption Disney Enterprises, Inc., Marvel Characters, Inc., MVL Film Finance LLC, Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, and Universal City Studios Productions LLLP and DreamWorks Animation v. Midjourney, Inc. In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, entertainment companies Disney and Universal are suing AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement. The 110-page lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a U.S. district court in Los Angeles, includes detailed appendices illustrating the plaintiffs' claims with visual examples and alleges that Midjourney stole "countless" copyrighted works to train its AI engine in the creation of AI-generated images. Many companies have gone after AI firms for copyright infringement, such as The New York Times (which sued OpenAI and Microsoft), Sony Music Entertainment (which filed a suit against AI song generator startups Suno and Udio) and Getty Images (against Stability AI). But this is the first time major Hollywood players have joined the fight against the AI landscape. The suit accuses Midjourney, a well-known force in the AI image generation space with around 20 million registered users, according to data insights company Demandsage, of "selling an artificial intelligence ("AI") image-generating service ("Image Service") that functions as a virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies of Disney's and Universal's copyrighted works." The lawsuit details Midjourney's alleged infringement of popular Disney and Universal figures, including Shrek, Homer Simpson and Darth Vader. It seeks unspecified damages from the AI company and aims to prevent it from launching an upcoming video service "without appropriate copyright protection measures." Midjourney did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment.

Disney and Universal sue AI image creator Midjourney, alleging copyright infringement

Studios accuse AI firm of 'piracy' and seek injunction over alleged use of copyrighted characters Disney and Universal sued an artificial intelligence company on Wednesday, alleging copyright infringement. In their lawsuit, the entertainment giants called Midjourney's popular AI-powered image generator a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" for its alleged reproductions of the studios' best-known characters. The suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios, making and distributing without permission "innumerable" copies of their marquee characters such as Darth Vader from Star Wars, Elsa from Frozen, and the Minions from Despicable Me. Midjourney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The suit by Disney and Universal over images and video represents a new frontier in the raging legal wars over the copyright and the creation of generative artificial intelligence. Previous suits have covered copyrighted text and music; Disney and Universal are two of the biggest industry players thus far to sue over images and videos. Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's chief legal officer, said in a statement: "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity, but piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing." NBCUniversal executive vice president and general counsel Kim Harris said the company was suing to "protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content". The studios claim the San Francisco company, one of the earliest to offer an AI product that generated images, rebuffed their request to stop infringing on their copyrighted works or, at a minimum, take technological measures to halt the creation of AI-generated images that copied the characters. Instead, the studios argue, Midjourney continued to release new versions of its AI image service that boast higher-quality infringing images. Midjourney can recreate animated images from a typed request, or prompt. AI companies use enormous troves of data, often retrieved from millions of websites, to train programs to generate new images or text. In a 2022 interview with Forbes, Midjourney CEO Holz said he built the company's database by performing "a big scrape of the Internet". In the suit filed by seven corporate entities at the studios that own or control copyrights for the various Disney and Universal Pictures film units, the studios offered examples of Midjourney animations that include Disney characters, such as Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, Marvel's Iron Man soaring above the clouds and Pixar's Buzz Lightyear taking flight. The image generator also recreated such Universal characters as How to Train Your Dragon's dragon, Toothless, the green ogre Shrek, and Po from Kung Fu Panda. "By helping itself to plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters - without investing a penny in their creation - Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the suit alleges. Disney and Universal asked the court for a preliminary injunction, to prevent Midjourney from copying their works, or offering its image- or video-generation service without protections against infringement. The studios also seek unspecified damages. Midjourney, founded in 2021 by David Holz, monetizes the service through paid subscriptions and generated $300m in revenue last year alone, the studios said. This is not the first time Midjourney has been accused of misusing artists' work to train their AI systems. A year ago, a California federal judge found that 10 artists behind a copyright infringement suit against Midjourney, Stability AI and other companies had plausibly argued these AI companies had copied and stored their work on company servers, and could be liable for using it without permission. That ruling allowed the lawsuit over the unauthorized use of images to proceed. It is in the process of litigation. The cases are part of a wave of lawsuits brought by copyright owners including authors, news outlets and record labels against tech companies over their use of copyrighted materials for AI training without permission. Asked whether he sought consent of the artists whose work was covered by copyright, Holz responded: "there isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from." OpenAI said early last year in a filing to the UK government that it would be "impossible to train today's leading AI models without using copyrighted materials". In late 2023, the New York Times sued OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, and Microsoft, which owns a 49% stake in the startup, alleging unauthorized use and reproduction of its articles, which comprise a vast corpus of text. The suit is ongoing. Other news outlets, including the Guardian, have reached agreements to license their archives to artificial intelligence companies. Book authors have likewise sued Meta for alleged use of a massive database of pirated books to train its Llama AI models, though many of the writers' claims have been dismissed. In June 2024, major record labels sued two AI companies for copyright infringement. Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group Recordings and Warner Records accused Suno and Udio of exploiting millions of songs to create engines that could "spit out" obviously derivative music.

'A bottomless pit of plagiarism': Disney takes on AI image generator Midjourney in scathing lawsuit

The House of Mouse is not to be trifled with. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal court, entertainment giants Disney and Comcast's Universal have teamed up to take on Midjourney, the generative AI image platform, accusing it of copyright infringement on a massive scale. The at-times blunt lawsuit doesn't mince words, arguing that Midjourney is a "bottomless pit of plagiarism." The complaint claims Midjourney effectively raided the studios' libraries, illegally training its AI to generate uncanny recreations of iconic characters like Star Wars' Darth Vader and Frozen's Elsa, without so much as a licensing deal or permission. NBCUniversal's Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Kim Harris, told Reuters the case is about protecting "the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content." By helping itself to Plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the suit argues, according to a copy of the suit obtained by Deadline. "Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing. Midjourney's conduct misappropriates Disney's and Universal's intellectual property and threatens to upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law that drive American leadership in movies, television, and other creative arts." Mashable recently tested the top AI image generators, and our testing revealed that Midjourney readily produced deepfake images featuring a recognizable Disney character. In fact, every single AI image generator we tested produced a similar deepfake with little to no resistance. Midjourney's legal defense isn't off to a promising start, either. The suit cites a 2022 Forbes interview in which Midjourney founder David Holz casually admitted that the company doesn't bother getting consent from living artists or anyone whose work remains under copyright. The quote, now immortalized in the court filing, could come back to haunt the AI company. "There isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from," the founder told Forbes. "It would be cool if images had metadata embedded in them about the copyright owner or something. But that's not a thing; there's not a registry." This isn't Midjourney's first brush with legal heat. A year ago, a federal judge in California found that a group of 10 artists suing Midjourney, Stability AI, and others had plausibly argued their copyrighted work was scraped, stored, and potentially monetized without approval. That lawsuit is still making its way through the courts, as are similar suits against OpenAI and Meta. While Disney and Universal are some of the first Hollywood studios to take on the AI industry, the New York Times, along with a growing list of news organizations, has sued OpenAI. For now, the issue of copyright law and AI training remains in a legal grey area, which means the Disney and Universal lawsuit could have big implications for the wider generative AI field. Founded in 2021, Midjourney makes money through paid subscriptions and, according to the studios, brought in $300 million in revenue last year.

Disney and Universal Studios Sue AI Image Generator Midjourney Over Copyright

In a significant escalation of the legal tensions between creative industries and AI firms, Disney and Universal have filed a joint lawsuit against generative AI company Midjourney, accusing it of widespread copyright infringement. The complaint, filed jointly in federal district court in Los Angeles by the two separate companies, alleges that Midjourney used copyrighted material from both studios to train its AI image generator, which can produce images that replicate well-known characters from their film and television libraries. According to the suit, the tool generated unauthorized reproductions of characters such as Darth Vader, Elsa from Frozen, the Minions, Shrek, and Homer Simpson. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the studios write in the 110-page complaint, per The New York Times. They claim the San Francisco-based company "helped itself to countless" copyrighted works without permission or compensation. The lawsuit marks the first time major Hollywood studios have taken direct legal action against a generative AI company. It comes amid broader industry concern over AI's use of protected intellectual property. The complaint details multiple instances of alleged infringement, including AI-generated images of characters from Star Wars, Frozen, The Simpsons, and Despicable Me. It also highlights recreations of Buzz Lightyear, Iron Man, Bart Simpson, Yoda, and others. The studios contend that these images are the result of a deliberate strategy by Midjourney to profit from their work. "We are bringing this action today to protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content," says Kim Harris, executive vice president and general counsel at NBCUniversal. "Theft is theft regardless of the technology used, and this action involves blatant infringement of our copyrights." Disney echoed this position. "Our world-class IP is built on decades of financial investment, creativity, and innovation -- investments only made possible by the incentives embodied in copyright law," says Horacio Gutierrez, senior executive vice president and chief legal and compliance officer of The Walt Disney Company. "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity. But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing." The studios also claim that they attempted to engage Midjourney in discussions before filing the suit, but the company allegedly declined to implement any meaningful changes to prevent infringement. Instead, the complaint alleges, Midjourney released updated versions of its image service that produced even more accurate and high-quality images of protected content. Midjourney, founded in 2021 by David Holz, has gained popularity for its ability to generate images based on text prompts. Holz has previously acknowledged using massive amounts of online data to train the system. In a 2022 interview with Forbes, he admitted the company performed "a big scrape of the internet" and said there "isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from." The company, which reportedly earned $300 million in revenue last year from paid subscriptions, has not yet responded to the lawsuit. In addition to damages, Disney and Universal are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop Midjourney from continuing to generate or distribute infringing images or videos. The lawsuit comes just as the trial between Getty Images and Stability AI kicked off in London this week. Both trials will be closely watched amid uncertainty as to how copyright can be applied in the age of AI.

Mickey & Minions vs Midjourney: Creators sue over turning characters into AI slop

In an unlikely corporate alliance, Disney and Universal are suing Midjourney for turning iconic characters like Yoda, Shrek and Iron Man into hundreds of thousands of AI-generated graphics without permission or payment. Disney and Universal Pictures are taking AI startup Midjourney to court, accusing it of mass copyright infringement for training its image generator on the studios' most recognizable characters. In a joint lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court, the studios accuse Midjourney of building its business on unauthorized use of their most valuable characters. The two studios are rarely on the same side. Disney and Universal have long competed for box office dominance and theme park visitors, but they now share a common goal. The lawsuit calls Midjourney "a bottomless pit of plagiarism." It outlines what the studios describe as a business model built on unauthorized use of protected material. The studios are asking for an injunction to stop the alleged infringement and damages for what they describe as calculated and ongoing misuse of intellectual property. Midjourney's image generator turns typed prompts into high-quality visual output. That approach is common across the generative AI industry. These systems are trained on massive datasets collected from the internet without regard for copyright. They learn how to replicate visual styles and recognizable characters. According to Disney and Universal, the results are not just inspired by pop culture but closely resemble copyrighted works. The lawsuit points to AI-generated images of Yoda with a lightsaber, Bart Simpson on a skateboard, and Iron Man in flight. It also includes characters from Universal films, such as Shrek and Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon. The studios argue these examples show that Midjourney used their content to train its model without permission. Disney and Universal say they asked Midjourney to stop using their copyrighted material or at least install safeguards to prevent further misuse. The company refused, they allege, and instead released newer models that doubled down on the problem by producing even more detailed recreations. "Piracy is piracy," said Disney's top legal executive Horacio Gutierrez. "The fact that it's done by an AI company doesn't make it any less infringing." NBCUniversal's Kim Harris put it more bluntly "This is about protecting the actual artists whose work these tools are built on, and the companies that funded their creation," Harris exclaimed. Midjourney was founded in 2021 and quickly rose to prominence by offering paid subscriptions for AI-generated images. The company was reported to have had an estimated revenue of $300 million in 2024. Its founder, David Holz, told Forbes in 2022 that they built their training data by scraping the internet. When asked if they got permission from artists, he admitted they didn't. "There isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from," he said. Other AI companies have said as much to the governments around the world. That quote may come back to haunt him. This is far from the first legal threat Midjourney has faced. A group of artists sued the company and others in 2023, arguing that AI firms had stored and repurposed their work without consent. That case is still making its way through the courts after a judge ruled the claims were plausible. RIAA Chairman & CEO Mitch Glazier also commented on the lawsuit. "There is a clear path forward through partnerships that both further AI innovation and foster human artistry," he said in a statement seen by AppleInsider. "This action by Disney and Universal represents a critical stand for human creativity and responsible innovation." Now, with two of the US' major entertainment firms joining the fight with nearly bottomless pockets for lawyers, the stakes are higher. The lawsuit highlights the growing tension between AI companies who treat copyright law as an obstacle and creators who expect to be paid when their work is used. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents major U.S. music labels and works to protect the intellectual property rights of artists and record companies. The case is part of a growing wave of lawsuits targeting AI companies for training their models on copyrighted material. Authors, musicians, news organizations and other rights holders have raised similar concerns, arguing that AI tools built on unauthorized content undermine both copyright law and creative labor. On a smaller scale, we've seen our own content mangled beyond coherency in the interest of AI summaries. We've seen our copy, verbatim, mashed up in news or procedural steps that make no sense when combined with other steps from other venues. While companies like Midjourney describe the process as innovation, it is ultimately a shortcut that avoids paying the people who made the original work. And, as time has gone on, and AI feeds on AI generated content, the results are getting messier for the user, and legally. Whether or not Midjourney thinks tracking licenses is too hard, the courts may soon decide whether that's a valid excuse or just a convenient one.

"Piracy Is Piracy": Disney Sues Midjourney for Massive Copyright Violation

Disney and NBCUniversal -- a pair of media behemoths behind franchises ranging from "Star Wars" and "Toy Story" to "Minions" and "Shrek" -- are suing AI company Midjourney, accusing it of enabling copyright infringement on a massive scale through its AI image generator tech. In the lawsuit, which was filed in a California district court today, the two Hollywood juggernauts accused the firm of ignoring its previous requests to stop violating their intellectual property rights. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the scathing complaint reads, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal. It's a major escalation in the fight between copyright holders and AI firms, a battle that has been brewing for years. Per Axios, it's the "first legal action that major Hollywood studios have taken against a generative AI company." And it's not just the use of image generators; generative AI writ large has triggered a barrage of lawsuits, with media companies accusing the likes of OpenAI and Google of training their large language models on their materials without fair compensation. Those disputes have turned into a major pain point for the AI industry, despite surging enthusiasm for the tech. Considering the sheer size of both Disney and Universal -- Disney is the third largest media company by market cap in the world -- Midjourney could soon be in a world of hurt. Disney, in particular, has a long track record of closely guarding its enormous cache of intellectual property. "Our world-class IP is built on decades of financial investment, creativity and innovation -- investments only made possible by the incentives embodied in copyright law that give creators the exclusive right to profit from their works," said Disney's chief legal compliance officer, Horacio Gutierrez, in a statement. "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity," he added. "But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing." The lawsuit explained in an example how Midjourney users could easily request a picture of the Disney-owned "Star Wars" character Darth Vader in a "particular setting or doing a particular action," and the AI "obliges by generating and displaying a high-quality, downloadable image." That kind of loose approach to copyright has been an open secret for quite some time. In January 2024, noted AI critic Gary Marcus and film industry concept artist Reid Southen warned in a piece for IEEE Spectrum that tools like Midjourney and OpenAI's DALL-E3 could land them in a "copyright minefield." The pair found that it was "easy to generate many plagiaristic outputs, with brief prompts related to commercial films," including well-known Marvel superheroes, Nintendo's Super Mario, and Disney's Darth Vader. Disney and Universal are framing their legal action as a way to "protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us," said NBCU executive VP and general of counsel Kim Harris in the statement. Given the lack of a clear legal precedent, it'll be fascinating to watch the lawsuit unfold over what's likely to turn into a years-long courtroom battle.

Disney, Universal launch first major studio lawsuit against AI company

Entertainment giants Disney and Universal filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Wednesday against AI company Midjourney, calling the image generator a "bottomless pit of plagiarism." The lawsuit is the first major legal battle between Hollywood studios and an AI firm, and follows other suits by independent artists who have sued Midjourney and other generative artificial intelligence makers for using their creative work. The entertainment giants accused San Francisco-based Midjourney of pirating their libraries and making "innumerable" copies of beloved characters including Darth Vader from "Star Wars," Elsa from "Frozen," and the Minions from "Despicable Me" without permission. The suit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, alleges Midjourney used the studios' works to train its image service and generate high-quality reproductions featuring the companies' iconic characters. "By helping itself to Plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the lawsuit states. The studios said they approached Midjourney about their copyright concerns before filing the suit, requesting the company implement measures to prevent infringement that other AI companies have adopted. But Midjourney "ignored" their concerns and is "strictly focused on its own bottom line," according to the filing. Instead of stopping its infringement, the studios argued, Midjourney continued to release new and better versions of its AI image service. The complaint noted the company generated $300 million in revenue last year through paid subscriptions. The lawsuit provides ample visual evidence of alleged infringement, showing AI-generated images of characters including Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, Disney's Groot from "Guardians of the Galaxy," and Universal's Shrek. Disney and Universal are seeking unspecified monetary damages and a preliminary injunction to prevent Midjourney from copying their works or offering its services without copyright protections. Last year a California federal judge found that artists behind a copyright infringement suit against Midjourney, Stability AI and other companies had plausibly argued these AI companies had copied and stored their work on company servers, allowing the litigation to continue.

How the Disney-Midjourney Suit Could Reshape AI Copyright Law

On Wednesday, the long-simmering dispute between Hollywood and the AI industry escalated dramatically when Disney and Universal sued Midjourney, one of the most prominent AI image generators, for copyright infringement. The two Hollywood heavyweight studios argue that Midjourney allows its users to "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters," such as Shrek and Spider-Man. "Piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing," Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's chief legal officer, said in a general statement. The lawsuit challenges one of the AI industry's fundamental assumptions: that it should be allowed to train upon copyrighted materials under the principle of fair use. How the case gets resolved could have major implications for both AI and Hollywood going forward. "I really think the only thing that can stop AI companies doing what they're doing is the law," says Ed Newton-Rex, the CEO of nonprofit organization Fairly Trained, which provides certifications for AI models trained on licensed data. "If these lawsuits are successful, that is what will hopefully stop AI companies from exploiting people's life's work." AI companies train their models upon vast amounts of data scoured from across the web. While most of these companies have resisted admitting that they scrape copyrighted material, there are already dozens of AI copyright-related lawsuits in the U.S. alone alleging otherwise. Midjourney, which allows its millions of registered users to generate images from prompts, faces a class-action suit led by artists including Kelly McKernan, who found that users were inputting the artist's name as a keyword in Midjourney to spit out eerily similar artworks. "These companies are profiting wildly off our unpaid labor," they told TIME in 2023.

Disney, Universal, DreamWorks Sue Midjourney, Call It a 'Bottomless Pit of Plagiarism' - Decrypt

The case highlights a growing wave of copyright suits targeting generative AI tools. Disney and Universal, along with several other American film studios, have filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Midjourney, alleging that its popular image generation tool systematically violates copyright by creating unauthorized reproductions of famous characters. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a U.S. federal court, accuses Midjourney of functioning as a "bottomless pit of plagiarism." "By helping itself to Plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider," the complaint reads. "Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing." The studios, which also include DreamWorks and the Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, cited examples of Midjourney-generated outputs that included likenesses of Yoda, Marvel superheroes, characters from Aladdin, Minions, The Simpsons, and Shrek. They are seeking damages and an injunction to stop the platform from reproducing, displaying, or distributing their copyrighted content. Decrypt has approached Midjourney for comment on the suit. The case is part of a mounting wave of lawsuits confronting AI companies over copyright violations. As generative AI tools become more widespread, legal scrutiny over their training data and outputs has intensified. The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December 2023, and Reddit is currently pursuing legal action against Anthropic. Other plaintiffs include music publishers and media companies such as Ziff Davis. The core legal question in these suits is whether AI companies can lawfully use copyrighted works without permission during training or generation. Companies like OpenAI have acknowledged using copyrighted content in training and argued it would be "impossible" to develop AI systems without it. While some firms have sought licensing deals with copyright holders, others, like Midjourney, have faced criticism for inadequate safeguards. In the complaint, the studios argue that Midjourney has the ability to filter prompts and outputs, just as it currently blocks certain violent or pornographic content. They claim the company could easily implement similar protections for copyrighted material, but has chosen not to. Midjourney faced controversy in its early days for limiting image generation related to Chinese President Xi Jinping and for allowing the creation of images of other world leaders. Meanwhile, the film industry is grappling with how AI will reshape creative labor. A report from the British Film Institute this week warned that AI poses a direct threat to screen sector jobs and revenue. It cited research suggesting global audiovisual creators may lose up to 21% in revenue over three years and that more than 200,000 U.S. entertainment jobs could be disrupted by 2026, particularly entry-level positions. Disney, Universal, and DreamWorks have been approached for further comment.

Disney, Universal launch first major studio lawsuit against AI company

Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) - Entertainment giants Disney and Universal filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Wednesday against AI company Midjourney, calling the image generator a "bottomless pit of plagiarism." The lawsuit is the first major legal battle between Hollywood studios and an AI firm, and follows other suits by independent artists who have sued Midjourney and other generative artificial intelligence makers for using their creative work. The entertainment giants accused San Francisco-based Midjourney of pirating their libraries and making "innumerable" copies of beloved characters including Darth Vader from "Star Wars," Elsa from "Frozen," and the Minions from "Despicable Me" without permission. The suit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, alleges Midjourney used the studios' works to train its image service and generate high-quality reproductions featuring the companies' iconic characters. "By helping itself to Plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the lawsuit states. The studios said they approached Midjourney about their copyright concerns before filing the suit, requesting the company implement measures to prevent infringement that other AI companies have adopted. But Midjourney "ignored" their concerns and is "strictly focused on its own bottom line," according to the filing. Instead of stopping its infringement, the studios argued, Midjourney continued to release new and better versions of its AI image service. The complaint noted the company generated $300 million in revenue last year through paid subscriptions. The lawsuit provides ample visual evidence of alleged infringement, showing AI-generated images of characters including Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, Disney's Groot from "Guardians of the Galaxy," and Universal's Shrek. Disney and Universal are seeking unspecified monetary damages and a preliminary injunction to prevent Midjourney from copying their works or offering its services without copyright protections. Last year a California federal judge found that artists behind a copyright infringement suit against Midjourney, Stability AI and other companies had plausibly argued these AI companies had copied and stored their work on company servers, allowing the litigation to continue.

'A bottomless pit of plagiarism': Disney and Universal sue AI image generator Midjourney for copyright infringement

This isn't the first time Midjourney has been sued, but it may be the one that matters. AI image generator Midjourney could be facing some serious legal headaches, as The Verge reports that the company is being sued by Hollywood powerhouses Disney and Universal, who say the company's unauthorized use of its characters make it a "bottomless pit of plagiarism." Midjourney is a generative AI service that yacks up images based on text prompts, enabling subscribers to churn out pretty much whatever they want -- including things like, for instance, 'Snow White stabbing Shrek with a lightsaber,' which I just now made up. And that's become a problem for Midjourney, because much of what its service spits out is based on characters created and owned by someone else: It "functions as a virtual vending machine," the lawsuit states, "generating endless unauthorized copies of Disney's and Universal's copyrighted works." "By helping itself to Plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing." Disney and Universal had previously asked Midjourney to halt its infringement, according to the suit, but it chose to "double down" instead by releasing newer and more advanced versions of its service. The suit also claims Midjourney has already begun training its video service on copyrighted materials, and says Midjourney's video service "is very likely already infringing" copyrighted works. This isn't the first time Midjourney has been sued for infringing on copyrighted works. In 2023, a group of artists filed a class action lawsuit against it, as well as StabilityAI and DeviantArt, over claims that they were using copyrighted work to train their systems. But the magnitude of the problem is much greater in this case because, well, it's Disney and Universal: massive corporations with bottomless wealth and legal departments that could put the fear of God into many nation-states. That's not a problem that's going away easily. The lawsuit includes multiple Midjourney-generated images of characters belonging to Disney and Universal, including Darth Vader, Minions, Shrek, and Yoda, and it's not hard to find them for yourself on Midjourney's own website: You have to sign up if you want to play, but the "Explore" page, which highlights images based on prompts entered by Midjourney users, seems happy to show off stuff like this: "Midjourney's bootlegging business model and defiance of US copyright law are not only an attack on Disney, Universal, and the hard- working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life, but are also a broader threat to the American motion picture industry which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation's economy," the lawsuit states. "This case is not a 'close call' under well-settled copyright law. Midjourney set up a lucrative commercial service by making countless, unauthorized copies of Plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and now sells subscriptions to consumers so that they can view and download copies and derivatives of Plaintiffs' valuable copyrighted characters. That is textbook copyright infringement." It's a bit rich for Disney to be wringing its hands over the fate of the "hard-working creative community" given its own fumbling with generative AI, but the unprecedented firepower it and Universal bring to this action has the potential to at least set some guidelines for what generative AI companies like Midjourney can get away with. I've reached out to Midjourney for comment and will update if I receive a reply.

Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement

The two Hollywood studios called Midjourney a "bottomless pit of plagiarism". Disney and Universal sued popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday. This is the first time major Hollywood companies have taken legal action against a maker of generative AI technology that could upend the entertainment industry. The copyright lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute "endless unauthorized copies" of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise and the Minions from "Despicable Me". "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. The studios also say the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didn't respond to a request for comment but its CEO David Holz addressed the lawsuit in a weekly conference call with users on Wednesday after someone asked if it would endanger the tiny startup's future. "I can't really discuss any ongoing legal things because the world isn't cool like that, but I think Midjourney is going to be around for a very long time," Holz said. "I think everybody wants us to be around." In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Holz described his image-making service as "kind of like a search engine" pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He presented the process as a form of creative inspiration, rather than plagiarism. "Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?" Holz said. "Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine." The lawsuit against Midjourney comes as a number of other AI companies have sought to make inroads into Hollywood and the video game industry, providing AI tools that can aid filmmakers and game developers generate new videos, synthesise voices and edit footage. A movie industry group, the Motion Picture Association, said in a statement on Wednesday that "strong copyright protection is the backbone of our industry" and it supports a "balanced approach to AI that both protects intellectual property and embraces responsible, human-centred innovation". The Recording Industry Association of America, a music publishing group fighting its own legal battles against firms that make AI-generated music, endorsed the lawsuit as a "critical stand for human creativity and responsible innovation". Major AI developers don't typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the "fair use" doctrine of American copyright law. At the same time, many big tech companies are increasingly looking to make licensing deals to pay for the content their AI systems need. The studios' case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms in San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is underway in London, pitting Getty Images against Stability AI, maker of an image-generating tool that competes with Midjourney.

Disney and Universal sue AI image company Midjourney for unlicensed use of Star Wars, The Simpsons and more

Disney and Universal joined forces in a lawsuit against artificial intelligence image creator Midjourney, alleging copyright infringement, according to court filings. It is the first AI copyright lawsuit from Hollywood giants. The lawsuit claims that the company used and distributed AI-generated characters from the movie studios like Star Wars, The Simpsons and other films and alleges that Midjourney disregarded requests to stop. Disney and Universal are demanding a jury trial, arguing that the actions threaten to "upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law." "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the movie studios said, calling the actions "calculated and willful." The rise of AI has raised the stakes in the media industry, and sparked concerns over how to protect content from illegal copyrighting. This is one of the most significant copyright legal battles to date involving AI. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court Central District of California.

Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney over copyright infringement

Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI. Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute "endless unauthorized copies" of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation.

Disney and NBC Universal take 'copyright free-rider' Midjourney to court over alleged plagiarism - SiliconANGLE

Disney and NBC Universal take 'copyright free-rider' Midjourney to court over alleged plagiarism The Walt Disney Co. and NBC Universal Media LLC today announced they have joined forces in a lawsuit against artificial intelligence image creator Midjourney Inc., the lawsuit calling the company a "bottomless pit of plagiarism." The complaint, filed in a U.S. District Court in central California, follows a slew of lawsuits in which creators of content, be it journalism, art, music or fiction writing, have hit back against AI firms for using their work to train their models without due compensation. The case today is the first in which Hollywood studios have taken legal action, with the lawsuit calling Midjourney a "virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies of Disney's and Universal's copyrighted work." The studios claim the image-generating firm has no legal right to reproduce the characters they have created, including Darth Vader from Star Wars, the Minions from Despicable Me, Shrek, Buzz Lightyear, Deadpool, Iron Man, Aladdin, Spider-Man, Yoda, WALL-E and the list goes on. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," said the companies. "Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing." The studios claim that Midjourney has ignored multiple requests in the past to stop infringing on their copyrighted content or to take technological measures, as some other image-generation companies have done, to rebuff users' prompts to recreate copyrighted work. ''Midjourney, which has attracted millions of subscribers and made $300 million last year alone, is focused on its own bottom line and ignored Plaintiffs," said the lawsuit, which also talked about Midjourney's video-generator that is yet to be released. The lawsuit claims it "will generate, publicly display, and distribute videos featuring Disney's and Universal's copyrighted characters." Midjourney hasn't yet responded to media about the lawsuit, although Chief Executive David Holz has waxed philosophical in the past about the crux of AI copyright lawsuits. "Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?" he told the Associated Press in 2022. "Obviously, it's allowed for people, and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine."

Disney and Universal suing Midjourney for AI copyright infringement

The lawsuit refers to Midjourney as a "quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism". Media giants Disney and Universal have filed a lawsuit against GenAI company Midjourney alleging the unauthorised copying of the studios' copyrighted work. The complaint states that Midjourney allows users to create additional images based off of content belonging to other organisations, for example Disney's Darth Vader and Universal's Shrek. Other such famous figures include Star Wars' Yoda, characters from Toy Story, Frozen's Elsa, the Minions from Despicable Me and Homer Simpson. Midjourney, which is a San Francisco-based start-up, runs an independent research lab and enables people to generate AI images based on prompts, many of which the lawsuit claims "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters without investing a penny in their creation". Additionally, the complaint states that "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism" and that regardless of how the content was created, in this case via AI, "technology does not make it any less infringing". Prior to the filing of the lawsuit, Midjourney was issued with several cease-and-desist letters, putting the company on notice with reference to the use of protected characters, however, the complaint argues that the GenAI platform is potentially "willfully blind to, the direct infringement of plaintiffs' copyrighted works done through its image service". The suit asks for Midjourney to pay damages of an unspecified amount. Disney and Universal have also asked that the judge overseeing the complaint prevent Midjourney from offering its "forthcoming video service without appropriate copyright protection measures to prevent such infringement". While this is reportedly the first case of a lawsuit being brought against AI by a major Hollywood-based media company, artists feeling threatened and having their work illegally replicated by generative AI is not new. In fact Midjourney was one of the organisations mentioned in a copyright lawsuit last year filed by a group of artists against companies using text-to-image generators. Other companies listed were StabilityAI and DeviantArt. In 2022 there was outrage as an AI-generated piece of artwork, created on Midjourney, won first prize at the Colorado State Fair's fine art competition, leading to further discussion on the ethics and fairness of using AI to create artistic content. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement

NEW YORK (AP) -- Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI. Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute "endless unauthorized copies" of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as "kind of like a search engine" pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. "Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?" Holz said. "Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine." Major AI developers don't typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the "fair use" doctrine of American copyright law. The studio' case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms -- such as OpenAI, Anthropic -- in San Francisco and New York.

Disney, Universal jump into legal battle over AI

LOS ANGELES -- Disney and Universal sued a prominent artificial intelligence startup for copyright infringement Wednesday, bringing Hollywood belatedly into the increasingly intense battle over generative AI. The movie companies sued Midjourney, an AI image generator that has tens of millions of registered users. The 110-page lawsuit contends that Midjourney "helped itself to countless" copyrighted works to train its software, which allows people to create images (and soon videos) that "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters." "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the companies said in the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Midjourney could not immediately be reached for comment. AI startups like Midjourney, which was introduced in 2022, train their software with data scraped from the internet and elsewhere, often without compensating creators. The practice has resulted in lawsuits from authors, artists, record labels and news organizations, among others. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied those claims, saying their actions fall under "fair use.") But Disney and Universal are the first major Hollywood studios to file copyright infringement lawsuits. Creative workers in the entertainment capital have been increasingly frustrated about studio silence on the matter. "They have not protested the theft of this copyrighted material by the AI companies, and it's a capitulation on their part to still be on the sidelines," Meredith Stiehm, president of the Writers Guild of America West, told the Los Angeles Times in February. The Midjourney lawsuit indicates that Disney and Universal, the two most powerful traditional entertainment companies, have been biding their time. While taking detailed aim at Midjourney for infringing on prominent characters such as Darth Vader, the Minions, the "Frozen" princesses, Shrek and Homer Simpson, the lawsuit reads like a shot across the bow to AI companies in general. The studios framed the generative AI theft as a problem that "threatens to upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law that drive American leadership in movies, television and other creative arts." The U.S. film and television business supports 2.3 million jobs and pays $229 billion in annual wages, according to the most recent economic figures from the Motion Picture Association, a Hollywood lobbying group. "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity," Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's general counsel, said in an email. "But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing." Kim Harris, general counsel of NBCUniversal, which includes the Universal movie studio, said in a separate email, "We are bringing this action today to protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content." Disney sent Midjourney a "cease and desist" notice last year, and the AI firm did not respond aside from acknowledging receipt, according to the lawsuit. Universal sent a similar notice last month and has not received a response of any kind. The suit asks for Midjourney to pay damages, but does not include an exact monetary demand. Disney and Universal also want a judge to stop Midjourney from "offering its forthcoming video service without appropriate copyright protection measures." Midjourney is one of the most popular text-to-image generators: Users type a description of what they want to see and the bot spits back images seconds later. (Competitors include Stability AI and DALL-E, developed by OpenAI.) Midjourney sells subscriptions for monthly fees ranging from $10 for a basic plan to $120 for a "mega" one, depending on the processing speed, among other factors. It had roughly $300 million in revenue last year, up from $50 million in 2022. Midjourney has been in the news for at least a year and a half for generating vivid images of copyrighted material. The New York Times reported in February 2024, for instance, that typing "animated toys" into Midjourney resulted in near-exact images of Buzz Lightyear and other characters from "Toy Story," a movie made by Pixar, which is owned by Disney.

Disney, Universal sue Midjourney -- 'bottomless pit of plagiarism'

Disney said it filed the complaint after its request to Midjourney to adopt anti-copyright infringement measures was ignored. Disney and Universal have sued artificial intelligence firm Midjourney for copyright infringement over its AI-powered image generator. In a legal complaint filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday, the entertainment giants accused Midjourney of using works related to copyrighted characters to train its large language model (LLM) and distributing images of the copyrighted characters. There are already several court cases against AI firms filed by authors and artists for alleged copyright infringement; however, this is the first time that major movie studios have waded into the AI legal saga. Among the works that have allegedly been copied without permission are characters from Disney's Star Wars, Marvel, The Lion King and The Simpsons, along with Universal's Boss Baby and Shrek franchises. The complaint states that users can subscribe to Midjourney's image service and prompt it to create images of the copyrighted work, which can be downloaded and used. Disney said that by using the copyrighted works and then distributing images that "blatantly incorporate and copy" famous characters without "investing a penny in their creation," Midjourney is a "copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism." The suit also claims Midjourney copies and uses the copyrighted characters to market and promote its image service. Disney alleges it tried to resolve the situation with Midjourney before launching legal action by asking the firm to adopt technical measures to prevent the generation of copyrighted works. "Instead, Midjourney has chosen to double down on its unlawful actions by releasing and promoting even newer versions of its Image Service and teasing its soon-to-be-released commercial AI video service," Disney said in the suit. Disney also alleges that Midjourney already has in place technological measures to prevent the distribution and public display of violent and nudity-related images, which Disney claims could easily be used to prevent the copying of its works. "Midjourney controls what copyrighted content it selects, copies, and includes in its Image Service, and it has the means to implement protection measures to prevent the ongoing copying, public display, and distribution of Plaintiffs' works," Disney said. Related: Amazon doubles down on AI with $20B Pennsylvania investment Disney and Universal have asked the court for a preliminary injunction to stop Midjourney from offering its image and video-generation service without measures to prevent users from creating images of copyrighted works. Midjourney didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Midjourney isn't the first AI firm to face legal action over alleged copyright infringement. Twelve US copyright cases against OpenAI and Microsoft were consolidated in New York back in March. Meanwhile, three authors filed a class-action suit against Anthropic for copyright infringement last August, alleging the company used data sets containing pirated versions of their works to train its Claude family of LLMs.

Disney and Universal sue Midjourney, says AI firm is a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism'

Two of the biggest studios in Hollywood, Disney and Universal, are suing Midjourney and its AI platform for image generation for copyright infringement. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you. It's no secret that the advanced and powerful AI models used for image generation have been trained using copyrighted material. Case in point: the images in this article were created using Midjourney's AI image generator and simple prompts like "Mickey Mouse and Darth Vader in a courtroom." Midjourney AI image generation has no problem generating high-quality images of Disney characters. And with news breaking that Disney and Universal are now suing Midjourney for copyright infringement, it's not all that surprising when you use the powerful AI tool to create an image of any Disney or Universal character with impressive accuracy in seconds. The suit, filed in Los Angeles this week, claims that Midjourney has scraped the massive content libraries of Disney and Universal to train its AI image generation model. The suit doesn't hold back, either, calling Midjourney a "copyright free-rider" and a "bottomless pit of plagiarism." Here's an excerpt from the filing. By helping itself to Plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters - without investing a penny in their creation. Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing. Midjourney's conduct misappropriates Disney's and Universal's intellectual property and threatens to upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law that drive American leadership in movies, television, and other creative arts. The lawsuit also notes that both studios have previously requested that Midjourney stop infringing on their copyrighted material. It claims that Midjourney made $300 million in revenue last year. The suit calls for a preliminary injunction to stop Midjourney from using its copyrighted works and damages in an unspecified amount. With AI companies like Midjourney evolving their AI tools to include video generation, Disney and Universal believe that the company is "very likely already infringing copyrighted works in connection with its Video Service" and that Midjourney will "publicly display and distribute videos featuring Disney's and Universal's copyrighted characters." Midjourney is defending from a similar copyright infringement suit aimed at multiple AI companies, with a class action trial set for September 2026. OpenAI and ChatGPT are also in the legal firing line, fending off a lawsuit from The New York Times and a class action suit from several prominent authors, including Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin.

Midjourney accused of 'Bottomless Plagiarism' in landmark AI lawsuit by Disney and Universal

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you. A lawsuit filed in a California district court by Disney and NBCUniversal has claimed that the popular generative artificial intelligence program and service, Midjourney, has claimed the company behind the tool has continuously violated both companies' intellectual rights> The lawsuit accuses Midjourney of ignoring its previous requests to stop violating its intellectual property rights, which Disney and NBCUniversal have traced back to its generative AI tools, such as image generation, More specifically, the lawsuit provided an example of how it believes Midjourney is violating intellectual property rights, such as the AI tool enabling users to generate an image of Disney-owned "Star Wars" character Darth Vadar in a variety of different settings and performing particular actions. The AI "obliges by generating and displaying a high-quality, downloadable image." Disney and NBCUniversal are framing the lawsuit against Midjourney as a stance on protecting the "hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us," with Disney's chief legal compliance officer, Horacio Gutierrez saying in a statement, "Our world-class IP is built on decades of financial investment, creativity and innovation-investments only made possible by the incentives embodied in copyright law that give creators the exclusive right to profit from their works." "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the complaint reads Additionally, the lawsuit states Disney and NBCUniversal found it was "easy to generate many plagiaristic outputs, with brief prompts related to commercial films." Naming IP such as Marvel superheroes, and Nintendo's Super Mario. Lawsuits such as this were inevitable, as there isn't a clear legal precedent for AI-powered tools being able to create content such as images or video that depict copyrighted IP. Questions such as how much of the image/video needs to be altered for the created content not to violate copyright laws. "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity," said Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's chief legal and compliance officer. "But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing."

Disney and Universal Sue AI Firm Midjourney for Copyright Infringement

NEW YORK (AP) -- Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI. Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute "endless unauthorized copies" of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as "kind of like a search engine" pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. "Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?" Holz said. "Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine." Major AI developers don't typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the "fair use" doctrine of American copyright law. The studio' case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms -- such as OpenAI, Anthropic -- in San Francisco and New York. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Disney, Universal Sue Image Creator Midjourney for Copyright Infringement

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Walt Disney and Comcast's Universal filed a copyright lawsuit against Midjourney on Wednesday, calling its popular AI-powered image generator a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" for its use of the studios' best-known characters. The suit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios, making and distributing without permission "innumerable" copies of characters such as Darth Vader from "Star Wars," Elsa from "Frozen," and the Minions from "Despicable Me". The studios claim the San Francisco company rebuffed their request to stop infringing their copyrighted works or, at a minimum, take technological measures to halt the creation of these AI-generated characters. Instead, the studios argue, Midjourney continued to release new versions of its AI image service that boast higher quality infringing images. Midjourney recreates animated images from a typed request, or prompt. In the suit filed by seven corporate entities at the studios that own or control copyrights for the various Disney and Universal Pictures film units, the studios offered examples of Midjourney animations that include Disney characters, such as Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, Marvel's Iron Man soaring above the clouds and Pixar's Buzz Lightyear taking flight. The image generator also recreated such Universal characters as "How to Train Your Dragon's" dragon, Toothless, the green ogre "Shrek," and Po from "Kung Fu Panda." "By helping itself to plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the suit alleges. "Midjourney's infringement is calculated and willful." Disney and Universal asked the court for a preliminary injunction, to prevent Midjourney from copying their works, or offering its image- or video-generation service without protections against infringement. The studios also seek unspecified damages. The suit alleges Midjourney used the studios' works to train its image service and generate reproductions of their copyrighted characters. The company, founded in 2021 by David Holz, monetizes the service through paid subscriptions and generated $300 million in revenue last year alone, the studios said. This is not the first time Midjourney has been accused of misusing artists' work to train their AI systems. A year ago, a California federal judge found that 10 artists behind a copyright infringement suit against Midjourney, Stability AI and other companies had plausibly argued these AI companies had copied and stored their work on company servers, and could be liable for using it without permission. That ruling allowed the lawsuit over the unauthorized use of images to proceed. It is in the process of litigation. In a 2022 interview with Forbes, CEO Holz said he built the company's database by performing "a big scrape of the Internet." Asked whether he sought consent of the artists whose work was covered by copyright, he responded, "there isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from."

Two Hollywood Giants Sue AI Image Engine Midjourney Calling It A 'Bottomless Pit Of Plagiarism'

Disney and NBCUniversal are going after Midjourney, a generative-AI tool trained on internet data that can be used to make everything from silly memes to short films made entirely of AI slop. The two Hollywood companies filed a lawsuit against the self-funded startup in Federal Court on Tuesday "to stop its theft of their intellectual property." The complaint accuses Midjourney of profiting off user subscriptions in return for letting them generate images based on copyrighted material ranging from Deadpool and Darth Vader to Shrek and the Minions, Variety reports. Like other generative-AI tools, Midjourney is more or less indiscriminately trained on whatever data exists on the internet, no matter who it belongs to. Disney and NBC Universal even reference a past interview with the company's founder, David Holz. Asked back in 2022 by Forbes whether it gets permission for any of the work it copies, he replied, "No. There isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from." The lawsuit alleges Midjourney made $300 million in revenue last year off of roughly 21 million users. "By helping itself to Plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the lawsuit reads. "Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing. Midjourney's conduct misappropriates Disney's and Universal's intellectual property and threatens to upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law that drive American leadership in movies, television, and other creative arts." This is the highest-profile legal attack yet on a generative-AI company, following lawsuits by The New York Times and others against companies like OpenAI for copying written work. The outcome in court would have major consequences for the viability of a technology that companies like Microsoft, Google, and Meta are investing billions in. Without the ability to essentially copy the internet for free, the entire business model behind a lot of generative-AI and large language algorithms falls part. "Midjourney's bootlegging business model and defiance of U.S copyright law are not only an attack on Disney, Universal, and the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life, but are also a broader threat to the American motion picture industry which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation's economy," the companies claim in their lawsuit. "This case is not a 'close call' under well-settled copyright law."

Disney, Universal Sue AI Image Creator Over Alleged Copyright Infringement

A former Senior Publishing Editor on the Dow Jones Newswires team at The Wall Street Journal, Aaron earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and a Master's in Journalism from Columbia University. Entertainment giants and rivals Disney (DIS) and Universal have teamed up to sue AI image creator Midjourney for alleged copyright infringements, including those of "Star Wars" and "The Simpsons." "For more than 100 years, Disney and Universal have delighted audiences around the world by investing in and fostering American creative innovation and producing some of the greatest motion pictures and fictional characters of all time," read the complaint. "Midjourney, however, seeks to reap the rewards of Plaintiffs' creative investment by selling an artificial intelligence (AI) image-generating service that functions as a virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies of Disney's and Universal's copyrighted works." The companies allege that "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," and include in the lawsuit several AI-generated images of copyrighted characters like Darth Vader, Homer Simpson, Shrek, and the Minions, which they allege Midjourney produced. Disney and Universal, who allege that Midjourney generated $300 million in revenue last year, and ignored their demands to stop its actions, are seeking a jury trial.

Disney, Universal Sue Image Creator Midjourney for Copyright Infringement

The image generator recreated characters from Universal Studios, Disney Walt Disney and Comcast's Universal filed a copyright lawsuit against Midjourney on Wednesday, calling its popular AI-powered image generator a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" for its use of the studios' best-known characters. The suit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios, making and distributing without permission "innumerable" copies of characters such as Darth Vader from "Star Wars," Elsa from "Frozen," and the Minions from "Despicable Me". Spokespeople for Midjourney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's executive vice president and chief legal officer, said in a statement: "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity, but piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing." NBCUniversal Executive Vice President and General Counsel Kim Harris said the company was suing to "protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content." The film industry trade group Motion Picture Association expressed support for the lawsuit and called for AI companies to respect intellectual property rights. "Strong copyright protection is the backbone of our industry," MPA chairman Charles Rivkin said in a statement. "A balanced approach to AI that both protects intellectual property and embraces responsible, human-centered innovation is critical for maintaining America's global leadership in creative industries." The studios claim in the lawsuit that the San Francisco company rebuffed their request to stop infringing their copyrighted works or, at a minimum, take technological measures to halt the creation of these AI-generated characters. Instead, the studios argue, Midjourney continued to release new versions of its AI image service that boast higher quality infringing images. Midjourney recreates animated images from a typed request, or prompt. In the suit filed by seven corporate entities at the studios that own or control copyrights for the various Disney and Universal Pictures film units, the studios offered examples of Midjourney animations that include Disney characters, such as Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, Marvel's Iron Man soaring above the clouds and Pixar's Buzz Lightyear taking flight. The image generator also recreated such Universal characters as "How to Train Your Dragon's" dragon, Toothless, the green ogre "Shrek," and Po from "Kung Fu Panda." "By helping itself to plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the suit alleges. "Midjourney's infringement is calculated and willful," it said. Big Scrape of the Internet Disney and Universal asked the court for a preliminary injunction, to prevent Midjourney from copying their works, or offering its image- or video-generation service without protections against infringement. The studios also seek unspecified damages. The suit alleges Midjourney used the studios' works to train its image service and generate reproductions of their copyrighted characters. The company, founded in 2021 by David Holz, monetizes the service through paid subscriptions and generated $300 million in revenue last year, the studios said. This is not the first time Midjourney has been accused of misusing artists' work to train their AI systems. A year ago, a California federal judge found that 10 artists behind a copyright infringement suit against Midjourney, Stability AI and other companies had plausibly argued these AI companies had copied and stored their work on company servers, and could be liable for using it without permission. That ruling allowed the lawsuit over the unauthorized use of images to proceed. It is in the process of litigation. The cases are part of a wave of lawsuits brought by copyright owners including authors, news outlets and record labels against tech companies over their use of copyrighted materials for AI training without permission. In a 2022 interview with Forbes, Midjourney CEO Holz said he built the company's database by performing "a big scrape of the Internet." Asked whether he sought consent of the artists whose work was covered by copyright, he responded, "there isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from." © Thomson Reuters 2025

'Bottomless Pit of Plagiarism': Disney, Universal File the First Major Hollywood Lawsuit Against an AI Startup

In a 110-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Disney and Universal accuse Midjourney of copying famous characters from their copyrighted works. The movie studios state that they have sent "cease and desist" letters to Midjourney's counsel to ask the startup to stop generating material featuring characters developed by the studios. Midjourney has allegedly disregarded their requests. "Midjourney, which has attracted millions of subscribers and made $300 million last year alone, is focused on its own bottom line," Disney and Universal allege. Related: A 74-Year-Old Needed a Lawyer, So He Used an AI Avatar in Court. It Didn't Go Well. Some of Disney's copyrighted characters include Darth Vader from "Star Wars," Elsa from "Frozen," and Homer Simpson from "The Simpsons," while characters from Universal include minions from "Despicable Me," Po from "Kung Fu Panda," and Hiccup from "How to Train Your Dragon." According to the lawsuit, only Disney and Universal are allowed to commercialize these characters and build a business around them. However, Midjourney has allegedly allowed its subscribers to generate images of characters like Darth Vader in violation of copyright laws. Disney and Universal included multiple examples in the complaint of AI-generated images from Midjourney featuring characters from "Cars," "Shrek," and other movies. Disney and Universal are asking for a jury trial, calling Midjourney's actions "textbook copyright infringement" and stating that the AI startup "threatens to upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law." "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright-free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," Disney and Universal allege. Related: New York Lawyer Uses ChatGPT to Create Legal Brief, Cites 6 'Bogus' Cases: 'The Court Is Presented With an Unprecedented Circumstance' Midjourney is a text-to-image AI generator that churns out images in seconds based on user prompts. It sells monthly subscriptions ranging from $10 per month for a basic plan to $120 per month for a mega subscription. The startup was founded in 2021 and has since generated $50 million in revenue in 2022 and $300 million in revenue in 2024. Midjourney notes on its website that it is "a small self-funded team" with "11 full-time staff." While Disney and Universal's lawsuit against Midjourney represents the first major Hollywood lawsuit against an AI startup, another groundbreaking AI case was filed last week. Reddit became the first major tech company to sue an AI startup, alleging in the complaint that the $61.5 billion startup Anthropic used the site for training data without permission. AI copyright cases can get expensive, too. Getty Images CEO Craig Peters said last month that Getty has spent millions of dollars in a years-long legal fight with AI image generator Stability AI. Getty alleged that Stability AI illegally scraped more than 12 million copyright-protected media from its site to train its AI image generator. Getty launched the suit in January 2023; the case is set for an initial trial on June 9.

Disney and Universal call AI "bottomless pit of plagiarism" in lawsuit against Midjourney

Midjourney's founder previously said the company's AI tools were trained on "a big scrape of the internet" Disney and Universal are teaming up to sue AI company Midjourney in a lawsuit that calls its AI generation tools a "bottomless pit of plagiarism," as reported by Reuters. Midjourney's tools pull from existing material to gain information used to create new (sometimes strikingly similar) images and other media. Disney and Universal are targeting Midjourney's apparently indiscriminate data collection, alleging that it utilizes copyrighted material in ways that are not protected by current law. "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity, but piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing," says Horacio Gutierrez, executive vice president and chief legal officer for Disney said in a statement. NBCUniversal executive vice president and general counsel Kim Harris adds that the company is suing Midjourney to "protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content." Disney and Universal are citing numerous examples of characters and concepts owned by the two studios being recreated by Midjourney's generation tools, from Bart Simpson, to Iron Man, Buzz Lightyear, Shrek, and even the dragons from How to Train Your Dragon. Midjourney founder David Holtz previously told Forbes that the company's AI generation tools are trained on a "big scrape of the internet." The studios are seeking an injunction to prevent Midjourney's tools from gathering data without protection of already copyrighted works, and an unspecified sum of monetary damages.

Hollywood Vs AI: What is Midjourney? Here's all details about Disney and NBCUniversal suit against AI firm over copyright infringement

Disney and NBCUniversal have filed a copyright lawsuit against AI firm Midjourney. They claim the AI tool creates and distributes images based on their characters without permission. The companies argue the use of their work has brought profit to Midjourney. The case was filed in a federal court in Los Angeles.Two major studios have taken legal action against an AI firm. Disney and NBCUniversal have filed a lawsuit against Midjourney. They claim the AI company used their copyrighted characters without approval. On Tuesday, Disney and NBCUniversal filed a copyright infringement lawsuit. The case was filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California. The lawsuit focuses on Midjourney, an AI image tool. The studios allege that Midjourney created and displayed many images copied from their copyrighted works. These images were available through Midjourney's website and shared with paying users. The studios said they contacted Midjourney earlier to stop these actions. But the company continued to update its image service. New versions of the tool reportedly produced clearer images. Many of these images resembled characters owned by Disney and NBCUniversal. The lawsuit claims that these actions violate copyright laws. Also Read: Stellar Blade PC Version: How to pre-order game? Here's release date, platform, specifications, PC requirements and more Midjourney, an AI image generator, allows users to type image descriptions. The AI then produces pictures in seconds. It is one of the most widely used text-to-image tools and has numerous users. Subscriptions start at $10 per month. Its highest-tier plan costs $120. The service had around $300 million in revenue last year. It had 21 million users by September 2024. Disney and NBCU believe this success came by using protected content. The lawsuit includes examples of characters, such as Deadpool, Spider-Man, Darth Vader, Elsa, Olaf, Buzz Lightyear, Shrek, and more. The companies argue that Midjourney has not paid for the right to use these images. They also stress that using copyrighted content without permission affects the creative industry. They say AI must follow the same laws as other technology. Also Read: Call of Duty: Is Warzone going to shut down after Black Ops 7? Here's all about Blackout 2 rumors Disney and NBCUniversal say Midjourney has copied their work and distributed it without payment. They want the court to stop the company from using their intellectual property. The studios believe this case is part of a larger issue. They say protecting copyright is important to support creative work in the US. What is Disney and NBCUniversal's main claim against Midjourney? They claim Midjourney used their copyrighted characters without permission to create and share images through its AI platform. Why is this lawsuit important for the entertainment industry? It raises concerns about AI tools using copyrighted material without consent, which could affect the creative economy and copyright law enforcement.

Disney, Universal sue image creator Midjourney for copyright infringement

Walt Disney and Comcast's Universal filed a copyright lawsuit against Midjourney on Wednesday, calling its popular AI-powered image generator a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" for its use of the studios' best-known characters. The suit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios, making and distributing without permission "innumerable" copies of characters such as Darth Vader from "Star Wars," Elsa from "Frozen," and the Minions from "Despicable Me". The studios claim the San Francisco company rebuffed their request to stop infringing their copyrighted works or, at a minimum, take technological measures to halt the creation of these AI-generated characters. Instead, the studios argue, Midjourney continued to release new versions of its AI image service that boast higher quality infringing images. Midjourney recreates animated images from a typed request, or prompt. In the suit filed by seven corporate entities at the studios that own or control copyrights for the various Disney and Universal Pictures film units, the studios offered examples of Midjourney animations that include Disney characters, such as Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, Marvel's Iron Man soaring above the clouds and Pixar's Buzz Lightyear taking flight. The image generator also recreated such Universal characters as "How to Train Your Dragon's" dragon, Toothless, the green ogre "Shrek," and Po from "Kung Fu Panda." "By helping itself to plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the suit alleges. "Midjourney's infringement is calculated and willful." Disney and Universal asked the court for a preliminary injunction, to prevent Midjourney from copying their works, or offering its image- or video-generation service without protections against infringement. The studios also seek unspecified damages. The suit alleges Midjourney used the studios' works to train its image service and generate reproductions of their copyrighted characters. The company, founded in 2021 by David Holz, monetizes the service through paid subscriptions and generated $300 million in revenue last year alone, the studios said. This is not the first time Midjourney has been accused of misusing artists' work to train their AI systems. A year ago, a California federal judge found that 10 artists behind a copyright infringement suit against Midjourney, Stability AI and other companies had plausibly argued these AI companies had copied and stored their work on company servers, and could be liable for using it without permission. That ruling allowed the lawsuit over the unauthorized use of images to proceed. It is in the process of litigation. In a 2022 interview with Forbes, CEO Holz said he built the company's database by performing "a big scrape of the Internet." Asked whether he sought consent of the artists whose work was covered by copyright, he responded, "there isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from."

Disney, Universal Slam AI Company As 'Bottomless Pit Of Plagiarism' In Scathing Lawsuit

The companies said Midjourney's "bootlegging business model" is an attack on "the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life." Disney and NBCUniversal joined forces in the first lawsuit of its kind against the artificial intelligence image company Midjourney on Wednesday, accusing it of copyright infringement. "We are bringing this action today to protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content," Kimberly Harris, NBCUniversal's executive vice president, told CNBC. The companies' lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that Midjourney sought "to reap the rewards" of Disney and Universal-copyrighted characters by selling an AI image-generating service "that functions as a virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies" of their copyrighted works. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the lawsuit reads. "Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing." Midjourney did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment. The AI company made $300 million last year from its image service, which allowed subscribers to simply enter a text prompt to request any of the Disney or Universal characters to perform an action, according to the lawsuit. The AI then generates and displays a high-quality image of the character. The lawsuit lists several Disney or Universal-owned characters Midjourney generated, including Shrek, Darth Vader, Thanos from the "Avengers" series, and the Minions characters from "Despicable Me." Horacio Gutierrez, chief legal and compliance officer for The Walt Disney Company, said in a statement to HuffPost that Disney's "world-class IP is built on decades of financial investment, creativity and innovation -- investments only made possible by the incentives embodied in copyright law that give creators the exclusive right to profit from their works." He added, "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity." The lawsuit contends that "Midjourney could easily stop its theft and exploitation" of intellectual property since the AI service controls what copyrighted content it selects. However, Midjourney chose not to use copyright protection measures, even when Disney and Universal sent cease-and-desist letters, according to the suit. The lawsuit accuses Midjourney of promoting its AI tools using Disney and Universal characters, and says the AI company has already begun using such characters to train its video service. The companies are now asking for a jury trial to determine damages, which could include some of Midjourney's profits. "Midjourney's bootlegging business model and defiance of U.S copyright law are not only an attack on Disney, Universal, and the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life, but are also a broader threat to the American motion picture industry which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation's economy," the lawsuit reads.

Disney, Universal Studios Sue AI-Image Generator Midjourney For Copyright Infringement - Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS)

Walt Disney Co. DIS and Comcast Corp.'s CMCSA Universal Studios on Wednesday filed a copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, an AI-powered image generation service. What Happened: The companies submitted the lawsuit in a federal court in Los Angeles and accused Midjourney of unauthorized use and distribution of the studios' most famous characters, according to a Reuters report. The lawsuit called Midjourney's platform a "bottomless pit of plagiarism." Read Next: Nvidia's Jensen Huang Sparks Quantum Stock Frenzy The companies alleged that Midjourney unlawfully copied and distributed countless images featuring characters such as Darth Vader from "Star Wars," Elsa from "Frozen" and the Minions from "Despicable Me," among others. Disney and Universal claimed they had previously asked Midjourney to stop infringing on their copyrighted works or, at least, to implement technical measures to prevent such use, but the company reportedly ignored these requests. Instead, the studios argued, Midjourney continued to release improved versions of its service, resulting in higher-quality infringing images. The lawsuit was filed by seven corporate entities representing the Disney and Universal film units that owned or managed the copyrights for these characters. Disney and Universal are seeking a preliminary injunction to block Midjourney from copying their works or offering its image and video generation services without protections against copyright infringement. The studios are also pursuing unspecified damages. Read Next: Trump, Musk Feud Fuels SpaceX Rivals: Space Stock Countdown Why It Matters: Midjourney was also named in a separate 2023 lawsuit, which remains ongoing. The suit claimed several AI image generators, including Midjourney, had used the works of over 4,700 artists, including well-known names such as Norman Rockwell and Wes Anderson, to train their systems without consent or compensation. The controversy gained traction after artist Jon Lam shared the "Midjourney Style List" on social media, sparking debate about the lack of regulation in the AI-generated art space. The list, reportedly disclosed by Midjourney's founder in a public forum, fueled artists' frustrations over being excluded from the profits made by AI platforms that monetize their styles through subscription services. Read Next: These Are The 3 Hottest Stock Market Themes Trending Now Image: Shutterstock DISThe Walt Disney Co$119.300.48%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum73.74Growth92.33QualityNot AvailableValue51.72Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewCMCSAComcast Corp$35.20-1.18% This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Disney and Universal are taking on Midjourney over AI piracy claims

It looks like all those fan-created AI videos might soon be coming to an end. One of the more high-profile ways that people are using artificial intelligence these days is to create unofficial versions of existing and copyrighted characters and events. One of the big current ones is seeing comedic vlogs of Star Wars' Stormtroopers, but in the past there have been other uses of the software tackling Marvel characters, and so much more. It looks like Disney and Universal at least are tired of their owned IP being used in such a way. The Hollywood Reporter notes that a lawsuit has been filed against AI company Midjourney under the grounds that it's a "bottomless pit of plagiarism". The companies that are combining to launch this legal suit include Disney Enterprises, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century, Universal City Studios Productions, and DreamWorks Animation. This moment actually marks Hollywood's first move against AI and the tech giants leading its development, as the aim is to stop them from simply consuming immense amounts of data to kick out "slop" versions of their IP, which is then consumed by countless folk around the world. The complaint elaborates: "If a Midjourney subscriber submits a simple text prompt requesting an image of the character Darth Vader in a particular setting or doing a particular action, Midjourney obliges by generating and displaying a high quality, downloadable image featuring Disney's copyrighted Darth Vader character." The lawsuit even offers visual evidence of Midjourney's use of copyrighted characters, with the complaint featuring a look at Yoda and Shrek and AI-generated versions of the characters. The complaint even directly references and states that Midjourney has taken data and information from copyrighted IP, cleaned and converted it, and then used it for its own training purposes, before then also displaying said content on the key Explore pages of its website. "Midjourney's publication and curation of infringing images on the Explore page show that Midjourney knows that its platform regularly reproduces Plaintiffs' Copyrighted Works, and that the Explore page is intended to advertise Midjourney's ability to infringe the Copyrighted Works." Disney has summed up its intent to take on Midjourney with a leading executive stating simply that "piracy is piracy".

Disney, Universal sue AI image creator Midjourney for copyright infringement

Mickey Mouse at the Mickey's 90th Spectacular Taping at the Shrine Auditorium on October 6, 2018 Walt Disney and Comcast's Universal filed a copyright lawsuit against Midjourney on Wednesday, calling its popular AI-powered image generator a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" for its use of the studios' best-known characters. The suit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios, making and distributing without permission "innumerable" copies of characters such as Darth Vader from Star Wars, Elsa from Frozen, and the Minions from Despicable Me. The studios claim the San Francisco company rebuffed their request to stop infringing their copyrighted works or, at a minimum, take technological measures to halt the creation of these AI-generated characters. Instead, the studios argue, Midjourney continued to release new versions of its AI image service that boast higher quality infringing images. Midjourney recreates animated images from a typed request, or prompt. Midjourney animations include Disney characters, Hollywood studios claimIn the suit filed by seven corporate entities at the studios that own or control copyrights for the various Disney and Universal Pictures film units, the studios offered examples of Midjourney animations that include Disney characters, such as Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, Marvel's Iron Man soaring above the clouds and Pixar's Buzz Lightyear taking flight. The image generator also recreated such Universal characters as How to Train Your Dragon's dragon, Toothless, the green ogre Shrek, and Po from Kung Fu Panda. "By helping itself to plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the suit alleges. "Midjourney's infringement is calculated and willful." Disney and Universal asked the court for a preliminary injunction, to prevent Midjourney from copying their works, or offering its image- or video-generation service without protections against infringement. The studios also seek unspecified damages. The suit alleges Midjourney used the studios' works to train its image service and generate reproductions of their copyrighted characters. The company, founded in 2021 by David Holz, monetizes the service through paid subscriptions and generated $300 million in revenue last year alone, the studios said. This is not the first time Midjourney has been accused of misusing artists' work to train their AI systems. A year ago, a California federal judge found that 10 artists behind a copyright infringement suit against Midjourney, Stability AI and other companies had plausibly argued these AI companies had copied and stored their work on company servers, and could be liable for using it without permission. That ruling allowed the lawsuit over the unauthorized use of images to proceed. It is in the process of litigation. In a 2022 interview with Forbes, CEO Holz said he built the company's database by performing "a big scrape of the Internet." Asked whether he sought consent of the artists whose work was covered by copyright, he responded, "there isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from." Sign up for the Business & Innovation Newsletter >>

Disney, Universal Launch AI Legal Battle, Sue Midjourney Over Copyright Claims

CNN Chief Operating Officer Heads Back to Warner Bros. Discovery In the next chapter of Big Entertainment vs. Big Tech, Disney and Universal have filed a lawsuit against AI company Midjourney over tools that allow users to create images and videos that can manipulate its famous characters at the click of a prompt. "Our world-class IP is built on decades of financial investment, creativity and innovation -- investments only made possible by the incentives embodied in copyright law that give creators the exclusive right to profit from their works," stated Disney chief legal officer Horacio Gutierrez. "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity. But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing."

Disney and Universal's lawsuit against Midjourney could shape the future of AI art

So Hollywood is finally making a move to try to protect intellectual property from generative AI. Disney and Universal have together filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, the company behind one of the most popular AI image generators, over rip offs of characters and art styles from the likes of The Simpsons and Star Wars. It's far from being the first lawsuit against an AI company for alleged copyright infringement, but it is the first one from major Hollywood studios. Disney and Universal Studios want a jury trial, and they're seeking damages plus an injunction that would immediately halt Midjourney's operations. The verdict could shape the evolution of generative AI in the creative sectors. At issue is the training of the Midjourney AI image generator. Some generators like Adobe's Firefly are trained on licensed material, which arguably makes them commercially safe to use. Others were allegedly trained on copyright material scraped from the internet. Some of these attempt to impose restrictions to prevent users from being able to generate imagery in the style of living artists or protected IPs. Midjourney imposes few restrictions, as images provided in the lawsuit demonstrate. A screenshot from the website's Discover page shows reams of images based on The Simpsons. The document also includes images of many other characters, including Yoda from Star Wars, Elsa from Frozen, Shrek, Minions and Spider-Man, which the claimants say were all created using Midjourney. Disney, which owns The Simpsons and Star Wars, and Universal Studios, which owns the likes of Shrek and Minions, claim Midjourney has "helped itself to countless" copyrighted works and allows users to create imagery that "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters." They describe the company as a "quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism." NBCUniversal's general counsel Kim Harris said the company was bringing the action to "protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content." AI companies like Midjourney have tended to avoid admitting that they train their models on scraped material while also claiming that they should be able to use copyrighted work under the principle of fair use. There are already lawsuits pending from artists and media companies, but Hollywood had so far held off from taking any action. That could be because of mixed feelings about AI in the film industry. While studios want to protect their own IPs, they're also interested in using AI to reduce costs and speed up filmmaking. Disney's own Lucasfilm recently left observers stunned by a jawdroppingly bad experimental AI Star Wars film, which it presented as the future of VFX. Meanwhile, proposals to create AI 'digital replicas' have caused conflict in contract negotiations with unions like SAG-AFTRA. Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's general counsel, said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed yesterday (Wednesday): "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity. But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing." A positive result for Disney and Universal would not mean the end of AI art, but it could mean the end of the digital Wild West attitude taken by Midjourney. AI companies would potentially have to licence training data - and retrain their models - which could be expensive, meaning lower profits or higher prices to use image generators and no more ripoffs of protected IP. It could also benefit 'commercially safe' AI image generators like Adobe Firefly. Meanwhile, Hollywood studios may continue to develop their own in-house AI image generators trained on their own back catalogues, like what Lionsgate is doing. Any conclusive results could be a long way off, though. Huge companies like Midjourney and OpenAI, which recently relaxed its controls to allow users to generate Studio Ghibli-like AI images, will surely fight until the last option has been exhausted. They've also been lobbying governments for legislative measures to allow what they've already been doing. OpenAI wrote to the White House in January and in the UK, the government has been trying to push through legislation that would give AI companies access to copyrighted work unless rights holders explicitly opt out.

Disney, Universal sue AI firm for copyright infringement: 'Bottomless...

Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI. Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute "endless unauthorized copies" of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as "kind of like a search engine" pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. "Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?" Holz said. "Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine." Major AI developers don't typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the "fair use" doctrine of American copyright law. The studio' case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms -- such as OpenAI, Anthropic -- in San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is underway in London, pitting Getty Images against artificial intelligence company Stability AI.

Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement

NEW YORK -- Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have entered the legal battle over generative AI. Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute "endless unauthorized copies" of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as "kind of like a search engine" pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. "Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?" Holz said. "Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine." Major AI developers don't typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the "fair use" doctrine of American copyright law. The studio' case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms -- such as OpenAI, Anthropic -- in San Francisco and New York.

Major Movie Studios File Landmark Copyright Lawsuit Against AI Company

'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism,' the suit says. The Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal have jointly filed a groundbreaking copyright infringement lawsuit against artificial intelligence image-generation company Midjourney, saying its theft of their intellectual property is "calculated and willful." The lawsuit, submitted to the U.S. District Court at Los Angeles, accuses the tech company of exploiting intellectual property by generating downloaded images of beloved characters without proper authorization. The case represents the first significant effort from major studios to tackle the complex issues surrounding copyright law and AI. "Midjourney's bootlegging business model and defiance of U.S copyright law are not only an attack on Disney, Universal, and the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life, but are also a broader threat to the American motion picture industry which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation's economy," the lawsuit says. Disney and NBCUniversal claim that Midjourney has transformed its image-generation service into a virtual "vending machine" of copyrighted material, allowing users to create unlimited, unauthorized reproductions of iconic characters like Disney's Darth Vader and NBCUniversal's Minions. A particularly sharp contention of the lawsuit notes that users, by entering simple text prompts, can receive high-quality downloadable images of intellectual properties that include Disney's "Frozen" characters, Marvel superheroes, and Universal's Shrek. The studios are seeking unspecified damages, including a share of Midjourney's earnings generated from infringing activities, statutory penalties, and injunctive relief to stop unauthorized use of copyrighted works. The lawsuit claims that Midjourney earned $300 million in 2024 while actively engaging in copyright infringement. "Midjourney's infringement is calculated and willful. Plaintiffs have asked Midjourney to stop infringing their copyrighted works and, at a minimum, to adopt technological measures, which other AI services have implemented, to prevent the generation of infringing material. But Midjourney, which has attracted millions of subscribers and made $300 million last year alone, is focused on its own bottom line and ignored Plaintiffs' demands," the lawsuit says. The lawsuit goes further to allege the use of these copyrighted works in training Midjourney's AI model. According to the filing, such practices directly challenge fundamental principles of American copyright law, threatening creative industries responsible for generating billions of dollars in economic activity and millions of jobs. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies say in the suit. The lawsuit strikes at the heart of an ongoing debate over the rights of creators and the fair use of copyrighted materials in training generative AI models. Studios argue that existing copyright laws provide sufficient frameworks to handle new challenges posed by AI but highlight that the courts hold a crucial role in defining the boundaries. Midjourney has reportedly started teasing future applications of its model, including video generation, which raises further alarm for Disney and NBCUniversal. "Midjourney has chosen to double down on its unlawful actions by releasing and promoting even newer versions of its Image Service and teasing its soon-to-be-released commercial AI video service," the lawsuit says. Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is already underway in London as Getty Images has sued the artificial intelligence company Stability AI.

Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement | BreakingNews.ie

Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI. Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute "endless unauthorised copies" of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. The studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Midjourney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as "kind of like a search engine" pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. "Can a person look at somebody else's picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?" Mr Holz said. "Obviously, it's allowed for people and if it wasn't, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. "To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it's sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it's fine." Major AI developers do not typically disclose their data sources, but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the "fair use" doctrine of American copyright law. The case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms -- such as OpenAI, Anthropic -- in San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is under way in London, pitting Getty Images against artificial intelligence company Stability AI.

Disney, Universal sue image creator Midjourney for copyright infringement

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Walt Disney and Comcast's Universal filed a copyright lawsuit against Midjourney on Wednesday, calling its popular AI-powered image generator a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" for its use of the studios' best-known characters. The suit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios, making and distributing without permission "innumerable" copies of characters such as Darth Vader from "Star Wars," Elsa from "Frozen," and the Minions from "Despicable Me". The studios claim the San Francisco company rebuffed their request to stop infringing their copyrighted works or, at a minimum, take technological measures to halt the creation of these AI-generated characters. Instead, the studios argue, Midjourney continued to release new versions of its AI image service that boast higher quality infringing images. Midjourney recreates animated images from a typed request, or prompt. In the suit filed by seven corporate entities at the studios that own or control copyrights for the various Disney and Universal Pictures film units, the studios offered examples of Midjourney animations that include Disney characters, such as Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, Marvel's Iron Man soaring above the clouds and Pixar's Buzz Lightyear taking flight. The image generator also recreated such Universal characters as "How to Train Your Dragon's" dragon, Toothless, the green ogre "Shrek," and Po from "Kung Fu Panda." "By helping itself to plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the suit alleges. "Midjourney's infringement is calculated and willful." Disney and Universal asked the court for a preliminary injunction, to prevent Midjourney from copying their works, or offering its image- or video-generation service without protections against infringement. The studios also seek unspecified damages. The suit alleges Midjourney used the studios' works to train its image service and generate reproductions of their copyrighted characters. The company, founded in 2021 by David Holz, monetizes the service through paid subscriptions and generated $300 million in revenue last year alone, the studios said. This is not the first time Midjourney has been accused of misusing artists' work to train their AI systems. A year ago, a California federal judge found that 10 artists behind a copyright infringement suit against Midjourney, Stability AI and other companies had plausibly argued these AI companies had copied and stored their work on company servers, and could be liable for using it without permission. That ruling allowed the lawsuit over the unauthorized use of images to proceed. It is in the process of litigation. In a 2022 interview with Forbes, CEO Holz said he built the company's database by performing "a big scrape of the Internet." Asked whether he sought consent of the artists whose work was covered by copyright, he responded, "there isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from."

Disney and Universal Sue Midjourney Over AI-Generated Copyright Infringements

Disney and Universal sued Midjourney, alleging that the artificial-intelligence company's image-generating service produces unauthorized copies of the studios' copyrighted works. The studios described Midjourney's infringement as calculated and willful, according to the complaint, which said that they previously have asked the company to cease violating their intellectual property rights and adopt measures to prevent further infringement. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the complaint said. Midjourney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, includes examples of images generated by Midjourney that depict copyrighted characters, such as Darth Vader from Disney's "Star Wars" franchise and the Minions from Universal's "Despicable Me" series. Disney has long closely guarded its intellectual property, which spans from iconic princesses and ornate castles to beloved cartoon creatures and fantastical lands. Thanks to acquisitions, its portfolio also includes Marvel superheroes and The Simpsons. Beyond the Minions, Universal, a subsidiary of Comcast's NBCUniversal, also holds a broad catalog of IP including DreamWorks characters like Shrek and Toothless, and enduring figures from classic films such as "Jaws," "Jurassic Park" and "Frankenstein." Blogs and online chat forums are full of tips on how to prompt Midjourney to deliver images based on or featuring characters that appear to be based on Disney IP. Kim Harris, general counsel for NBCUniversal, said the companies filed the suit "to protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content." The studios are seeking monetary damages, a jury trial and an order barring Midjourney from further copyright infringement. "We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity," said Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's chief legal and compliance officer. "But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing."