Overview

• Filed June 11 in Los Angeles federal court, the complaint accuses Midjourney of training its AI on scraped studio images to generate iconic character likenesses without authorization.
• Disney and Universal are demanding a jury trial, unspecified monetary damages and a preliminary injunction to bar further infringement, including a forthcoming video generation tool.
• The studios contend Midjourney ignored repeated cease-and-desist requests and declined to deploy technical measures that could prevent unauthorized use of their intellectual property.
• The Recording Industry Association of America has endorsed the lawsuit, describing it as a necessary defense of creators’ rights against unchecked AI exploitation.
• Legal analysts warn that the case could set a pivotal precedent for how generative AI platforms handle copyrighted content across the creative industries.