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Disney and Universal File Copyright Suit Against Midjourney’s AI Image Generator

Accusing Midjourney of training its image service on scraped studio libraries, the studios seek a court order to halt further unauthorized character reproductions.

FILE - People visit the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
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Overview

  • On June 11, Disney and NBCUniversal filed a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles alleging that Midjourney’s AI image generator infringed their copyrights by producing unlicensed versions of their characters.
  • The complaint asserts that Midjourney trained its model on scraped Disney and Universal libraries to generate “innumerable” images of figures such as Darth Vader, Elsa and the Minions without permission.
  • According to the filing, the studios warned Midjourney to adopt protective measures and cease infringing activity, but the company ignored those requests and continued to release upgraded versions bearing pirated content.
  • Disney and Universal are seeking a preliminary injunction to block further unlicensed reproductions of their intellectual property, along with unspecified monetary damages for the alleged infringement.
  • As the first major legal challenge by Hollywood studios against a generative AI company, the outcome could set a precedent for how copyrighted materials are used in AI training and image generation.