Disney and Universal Sue Midjourney Over Copyright Issues

LOS ANGELES – On Wednesday, Walt Disney and Comcast’s Universal filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, labeling its AI image generator as a “bottomless pit of plagiarism” for allegedly using characters from their popular franchises without permission.

The complaint, lodged in a federal court in Los Angeles, claims that Midjourney has created and spread “innumerable” copies of well-known characters, including Darth Vader, Elsa, and Minions. This raises serious concerns about copyright infringement.

Midjourney didn’t respond immediately to requests for comment on the situation.

Horacio Gutierrez, Disney’s executive VP and chief legal officer, asserted that while they are excited about the potential of AI as a tool for creativity, piracy remains piracy. He emphasized that AI involvement doesn’t mitigate the infringement issue.

Keen to protect the artistic integrity of creators, NBCUniversal Executive Vice President and General Counsel Kim Harris stated their pursuit of legal action aims to safeguard the hard work of artists as well as the investments made in their productions.

According to the lawsuit, the studios had previously asked Midjourney to cease its unauthorized use of copyrighted material or at least implement measures to limit the generation of AI-based characters. However, the studios argue that Midjourney ignored this request and continued to enhance its service with high-quality infringing images.

Midjourney’s platform allows users to generate animated images based on text prompts.

The legal action, brought forth by seven corporate entities from the studios, includes examples of animations that depict characters like Yoda, Bart Simpson, Iron Man, and Buzz Lightyear. It also highlights recreations of Universal’s characters, such as Toothless from “How to Train Your Dragon,” Shrek, and Po from “Kung Fu Panda.”

The lawsuit accuses Midjourney of essentially benefiting from the creators’ hard work without any financial investment, branding it a “quintessential copyright free-rider.” It states that the infringement is both calculated and deliberate.

Disney and Universal are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop Midjourney from continuing to copy their works and from offering services without safeguards against such infringements. They are also pursuing unspecified damages.

The case claims that Midjourney used copyrighted works to train its AI, which has become profitable; the company reportedly made $300 million last year through subscription services.

This isn’t the first time Midjourney has faced allegations regarding the misuse of artists’ works. A year ago, a California federal judge found that artists had made plausible claims that Midjourney and other AI companies had copied and stored their work without permission, allowing lawsuits over unauthorized use to advance.

This lawsuit falls within a broader trend where copyright holders, including authors and news organizations, are targeting tech companies over the use of their materials for AI training without consent.

In a 2022 interview, Midjourney’s CEO David Holz admitted that the company’s database was built through “a big scrape of the Internet,” and when asked about obtaining consent from artists whose works were used, he stated it wasn’t feasible to track the origins of a hundred million images.