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".
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 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," 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 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.
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."
(Additional reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Sam Holmes and Bill Berkrot)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
8 minutes ago
- UPI
'Star Wars' 50th anniversary to include 'A New Hope' in theaters
1 of 3 | The "Star Wars" franchise is celebrating its 50th birthday with a special re-release of "A New Hope." Photo courtesy of Star Wars Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The Star Wars 50th anniversary celebrations will include a special screening of the 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope in 2027. The movie will return to theaters "for a limited time" to honor the franchise's 50th anniversary, which falls April 30, 2027, according to a press release. The film will play May 4 on Star Wars Day. The press release promised fans additional details about "this once-in-a-generation event" on their website. Star Wars: A New Hope returns to theaters April 2027 to celebrate 50 years of a galaxy far, far away: Star Wars (@starwars) August 1, 2025 A New Hope stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, and introduced the trio's iconic characters of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa. The film franchise also includes the sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), along with more recent features. May the 4th: Fans channel the Force on Star Wars Day Star Wars fans turned out in full costume to honor the Force in in Yokohama, Kanagawa-Prefecture, Japan, on May 4, 2025. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo
Cosmopolitan
8 minutes ago
- Cosmopolitan
Who Is Jenna Ortega Dating?
Jenna Ortega is truly the president of the Mind Your Own Business Club™️. Like, in a world of people who post absolutely everything, she chooses to stay mum in public about her personal life. That said, the Wednesday star *did* share a rare update on her relationship status during an August 2024 interview with Vanity Fair when she said, 'I don't plan on speaking about my love life publicly, because that's mine.' Honestly, truer words! Given all of this, it's no surprise that Jenna has never been in a relationship that the public knows about. Even so, relationship rumors follow her pretty regularly. Here's a list of Jenna Ortega relationship rumors throughout the years—literally all of which have turned out to be false—and how they were ultimately corrected. Jenna and Jacob sparked untrue dating rumors after the actor appeared in the musician's music video for his song, 'Chapstick.' In the vid, the two stars pretended to be on a date while gallivanting around New York City playing carnival games, eating ice cream, roasting marshmallows, and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge together. In other words, a picture-perfect day that would have made middle school me weep. Let's roll back the tapes, shall we? Despite the fact that Jenna and Jacob appeared to have *tons* of on-screen chemistry, they never actually became more than just friends IRL. As the musician put it during a convo with J-14 at the time,'We're really good friends.' He went on to add, 'It was really fun to film the video. She's really nice, so we had good chemistry on camera and off.' But that was it, apparently! Fans first began speculating about the Disney channel stars after they showed up to the Venom movie premiere together in October 2018. The pair also made a handful public appearances together afterwards. Case in point? Just Jared's 7th Annual Halloween Party, where they wore the cutest couples costume. Enter: my renewed obsession with Ari and Pete. They were also spotted at a fashion show, during which Asher wasted no time posting a cute vid with the caption "this one ❤️" on his Insta Stories, per J-14. Despite tons of fan support and speculation, neither Jenna nor Asher ever confirmed (or denied) the relationship rumors. However! Some fans believe Asher is the person Jenna very briefly alluded to when she referenced an ex on Dax Shepherd's Armchair Expert podcast in March 2023. 'I was in a relationship for a couple of years but I stopped when things got too hectic,' Jenna said at the time. 'Kay, so this one ab-so-lute-ly never happened, but it tricked the internet for a hot sec. Back in early 2023, a fully fake rumor spread about Jenna and Kendall Jenner's on-and-off-again boyfriend Devin Booker going on a dinner date together, with supposed 'photographic evidence' of them leaving a restaurant. But fans quickly deduced that the image was entirely photoshopped, putting an end to the fakery. And that's that! As far as fans know, Jenna is happily single right if that changes, the public will probably be the last to know.
CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
Why Black entrepreneurs flock to Martha's Vineyard every August
Martha's Vineyard has long been a summer vacation destination for Black families, but August in the Massachusetts beach community is becoming an important hub for Black entrepreneurs, investors and financial firms, too. "I would say the magic of it is really about introducing your network to someone else's network," said Calvin Butts, founder of East Chop Capital, a private equity firm named after a neighborhood on the island. "We found great success raising capital there, we've had our portfolio companies speak as well, we've done very, very well with deal flow." A wide range of companies including Disney, Cisco, Goldman Sachs, McDonald's, Google, Ford, Mckinsey and CNBC parent company Comcast are hosting or sponsoring business-focused events on the Vineyard this month. The Black Economic Alliance is hosting an event called "The Gathering," bringing together corporate leaders to discuss ways to help increase the opportunities for Black employees and companies. "The Vineyard is a spot to capture an audience who wants to have an intellectual and financial conversation about how to uplift Black culture," said Melissa Bradley, general partner of the BEA Venture Fund. Martha's Vineyard became a popular vacation destination for Black families over a century ago with the opening of the first hotel that allowed Black visitors, Shearer Cottage, in 1912. Since then, Black families have bought homes and created a community centered around the town of Oak Bluffs and Inkwell Beach, a name that is a nod to the segregation on the island in the past. This year, clothing brand Ralph Lauren released its Oak Bluffs collection looking to recognize and capitalize on the history and prestige of the island that hosts visitors like Michelle and Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Spike Lee. Eden Bridgeman Sklenar, CEO of Ebony Magazine, is hosting an event with the founders of Black-owned spirit brand Uncle Nearest and said she sees the vineyard as a way to bring the history and the future of the magazine to life for its target audience. "For EBONY, being present on the Vineyard in August is both strategic and personal," Sklenar said in a statement. "It's an opportunity to connect with a powerful cross-section of our community, deepen meaningful relationships, and position the brand not just as a cultural icon, but as a modern business driving impact, visibility, and growth." Donae Burston, founder of La Fête du Rosé, said he also sees tapping into the culture of the Martha's Vineyard community as an organic way to grow sales among a consumer base that aligns with his marketing as a luxury brand. "For us it would mean so much to have the acceptance of people in Martha's Vineyard," said Burston. "Being able to go to Martha's Vineyard and focus on [high-net-worth] individuals from all over the world who appreciate wine — It's visibility, it's helping them become evangelists to go back home and spread the gospel." For four generations, Erin Goldson and her family have spent summers in Martha's Vineyard. This year she is launching a new event called the "Vineyard Icon Awards," sponsored by Diageo and Estee Lauder. The honorees are business and political leaders who are helping to shape August on Martha's Vineyard as a place where culture and commerce meet. "Over the last five or so years, a lot of companies are realizing that there is a wealth of successful, accomplished, driven Black professionals, who decide to come to the vineyard in August," Goldson said. "You can come to the vineyard for rest and relaxation," she said. "But every year here there is also a growing legacy, where Black ambition and aspiration are celebrated in a very unique way."
