Disney and others sue Midjourney, say it directly and indirectly copied their IP and movies
Walt Disney and NBCUniversal have jointly filed a copyright lawsuit against San Francisco-based AI company Midjourney, accusing it of illegally copying and generating images of some of their most iconic characters, according to a report by Reuters. Filed on Wednesday in a federal court in Los Angeles, the lawsuit targets Midjourney's AI-powered image generator, which creates visuals based on user prompts. The studios allege the tool has been generating and distributing countless unauthorised images of characters from major franchises like Star Wars, Frozen, Despicable Me, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and others – without their permission.advertisementThe complaint was brought by seven corporate entities from both Disney and Universal, who control the rights to various film units and characters.A 'bottomless pit of plagiarism'The studios didn't hold back in their criticism of Midjourney, calling the AI tool a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism' in the lawsuit. They accuse the company of profiting from their copyrighted material without contributing to its creation or requesting any form of licence.
Disney's executive vice president and chief legal officer, Horacio Gutierrez, said in a statement:'We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly... but piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing.' NBCUniversal's general counsel Kim Harris echoed that view, saying the company is taking legal 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.'advertisementThe Motion Picture Association (MPA) also issued a statement supporting the lawsuit, with its chairman Charles Rivkin noting:'Strong copyright protection is the backbone of our industry... A balanced approach to AI that both protects intellectual property and embraces responsible, human-centred innovation is critical for maintaining America's global leadership in creative industries.' Copyrighted characters allegedly used without consentAmong the AI-generated images cited in the complaint are Darth Vader, Yoda, Elsa, Iron Man, Buzz Lightyear, Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek, Po from Kung Fu Panda, and even Bart Simpson. According to the lawsuit, these images are either identical or very close to the originals, clearly derived from copyrighted works.Midjourney, founded in 2021 by David Holz, reportedly earns revenue through paid subscriptions and generated about $300 million in 2024. Despite being asked by the studios to stop using their works, the company allegedly 'rebuffed' their request and continued to update its platform to produce even more high-quality versions of these images.The studios are now asking the court for a preliminary injunction to stop Midjourney from offering its services without appropriate safeguards, and are also seeking unspecified damages.Training on copyrighted contentOne of the most serious allegations in the suit is that Midjourney used copyrighted images to train its AI model. The studios argue that this 'training' involved copying vast quantities of their material without consent.advertisementIn a 2022 interview with Forbes, Midjourney CEO Holz admitted to performing 'a big scrape of the Internet' to build the company's database. When asked whether he had permission from artists or creators, Holz replied: 'There isn't really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they're coming from.'This isn't Midjourney's first brush with copyright complaints. Last year, a group of artists filed a separate suit against the company and others, claiming their artwork had been used without permission. A judge ruled that the case could proceed after finding the claims were plausible.
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