Disney and Universal Sue Midjourney

Disney, Universal, and other studios have filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, an AI company, claiming its image generation tool infringes copyright by creating unauthorized reproductions of iconic characters.

The lawsuit, submitted in a U.S. federal court, labels Midjourney 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,” states the complaint. “Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing.”

Studios like DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox also highlighted Midjourney-generated content resembling Yoda, Marvel superheroes, Aladdin characters, Minions, The Simpsons, and Shrek.

They seek damages and a court order to prevent the platform from reproducing or distributing their copyrighted material. Decrypt has reached out to Midjourney for a comment.

This suit is part of a growing trend of legal challenges facing AI companies for copyright infringement. As generative AI becomes commonplace, scrutiny over their training data and outputs is increasing. For instance, The New York Times filed against OpenAI and Microsoft, while Reddit is suing Anthropic. Other plaintiffs include music publishers and media firms like Ziff Davis.

The central legal issue in these cases is the permissibility of AI companies using copyrighted works during training or content generation.

Companies such as OpenAI admit they use copyrighted material for training, claiming it’s “impossible” to develop AI systems without it.

A Call for Filtering

While some companies pursue licensing agreements with copyright holders, others, like Midjourney, are criticized for lacking sufficient safeguards.

The plaintiffs argue that Midjourney can filter prompts and outputs similarly to its current restrictions on violent or pornographic content. They believe Midjourney could apply similar protective measures for copyrighted works but has chosen not to.

Controversially, Midjourney previously limited image generation related to Chinese President Xi Jinping while permitting images of other world leaders.

Simultaneously, the film industry is adapting to AI’s impact on creative labor. A British Film Institute report warns that AI threatens jobs and revenue in the screen sector, suggesting global audiovisual creators may lose up to 21% of revenue in three years, risking over 200,000 U.S. entertainment jobs, especially entry-level positions, by 2026.

Disney, Universal, and DreamWorks have been contacted for further comments.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair