Latest news with #HoracioGutierrez
India Today
a day ago
- Entertainment
- India Today
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 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 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 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 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 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.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Artificial intelligence: Disney and Universal sue Midjourney over copyright
Disney and Universal are suing artificial intelligence (AI) firm Midjourney over its image generator, which the Hollywood giants allege is a "bottomless pit of plagiarism".The two studios claim Midjourney's tool makes "innumerable" copies of characters including Darth Vader from Star Wars, Frozen's Elsa, and the Minions from Despicable is part of the entertainment industry's ongoing love-hate relationship with AI. Many studios want to make use of the technology but are concerned that their creations could be 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 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 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 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 did not immediately respond to a BBC request for its website, the San Francisco-based startup says it has a "small self-funded team" with less than a dozen full-time refers to itself as "an independent research lab."The firm is run by David Holz, who previously founded a hardware sensor firm called Leap lists former Github chief executive Nat Friedman and Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life, among its sees both potential upsides and downsides to was only two years ago that actors and writers shut down the entertainment industry hub with strikes demanding protections against new now AI is being used more in TV, films and video movies competing at the Oscars used AI to alter voices: Emilia Perez and The technology has also been used to de-age actors like Tom Hanks and Harrison Ford.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
"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. More on Midjourney: Self-Styled "AI Artist" Furious That People Are "Blatantly Stealing My Work"
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Disney, NBCU wage war against AI: Midjourney gets slapped with lawsuit
The Walt Disney Co. and NBCUniversal have filed a lawsuit against AI company Midjourney, alleging that the company's image-generating service infringes on their copyrighted works. This legal action, lodged in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, marks the first significant lawsuit studios have initiated against an AI company. The lawsuit accuses Midjourney of functioning as a 'virtual vending machine' for unauthorized copies of copyrighted characters, specifically targeting Disney's and Universal's intellectual properties. The studios claim Midjourney generates high-quality, downloadable images featuring well-known characters like Disney's Darth Vader and NBCUniversal's Minions, in response to simple text prompts from users. These images, the lawsuit argues, are blatant copies, circumventing the need for the studios to invest in their creation. The complaint asserts that Midjourney's actions are a form of piracy, as the service generates copyrighted content without permission. The studios are seeking maximum statutory damages, an accounting of Midjourney's earnings from the alleged infringement, and injunctive relief to prevent further violations. At the heart of the lawsuit is the issue of AI training. Midjourney's use of copyrighted material to train its image-generation model is a contentious issue in the AI industry. The studios suggest that Midjourney's new video service could also be infringing their copyrights, making the matter even more urgent. Horacio Gutierrez, senior executive vice president of Disney, stated, 'Piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing.' NBCUniversal's Kim Harris echoed the sentiment, calling the infringement 'blatant' and stressing the importance of protecting the work of artists and creators. The lawsuit highlights the growing tension between content creators and AI companies, as the Motion Picture Association has argued that existing copyright law should be sufficient to address these issues. However, the studios maintain that Midjourney's practices constitute clear copyright infringement. Representatives for Midjourney have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Disney and Universal file 110-page lawsuit against AI company Midjourney, calls it: Quintessential copyright free-rider and a ...
Disney and Universal have filed a 110-page joint lawsuit against artificial intelligence startup Midjourney for copyright infringement. The media giants have labelled the AI image generator company a "quintessential copyright-free-rider" and a "bottomless pit of plagiarism." The legal action, filed this week, brings the first Hollywood companies into the escalating legal battle surrounding generative AI. The movie companies challenged that Midjourney, an AI image generator with millions of registered users, "helped itself to countless" copyrighted works. These works were allegedly used to train its software, which enables users to create images (and soon videos) that "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters." The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in Los Angeles. This move marks a significant step for major Hollywood entities in addressing the use of their intellectual property by AI companies. What Disney and Universal said about the lawsuit against Midjourney In an email sent to the New York Times, Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's general counsel, said: '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.' Meanwhile, in a separate email sent to the NYT, Kim Harris, general counsel of NBCUniversal, which includes the Universal movie studio, 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.' AI companies like Midjourney often train their tools using vast amounts of data sourced from the internet and other places, typically without paying or crediting original creators. This approach has already sparked legal action from a wide range of industries, including authors, visual artists, music labels and others. Now, Disney and Universal have become the first major Hollywood studios to pursue legal action for copyright infringement. In Hollywood, frustration has been growing among creative professionals over studios' lack of response. '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,' said Meredith Stiehm, president of the Writers Guild of America West, in a February statement to The LA Times. The lawsuit filed by Disney and Universal appears to mark a turning point. Targeting Midjourney specifically for using copyrighted characters such as Darth Vader, the Minions, Shrek, the 'Frozen' princesses, and Homer Simpson, the complaint seems aimed at setting a broader precedent for the entire AI industry.
