Disney and Universal have launched a copyright lawsuit against the popular AI image generator Midjourney, marking the first time major Hollywood studios have taken legal action over generative AI technology. The complaint, filed in a federal court in Los Angeles, accuses Midjourney of using the studios’ copyrighted content without permission to create and distribute countless unauthorized images of famous characters like Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me.
The studios describe Midjourney as a “copyright free-rider” engaging in widespread plagiarism, emphasizing that using AI to create infringing content is no different from using other technologies. They also claim Midjourney ignored multiple requests to halt the unauthorized use of their intellectual property and to implement technical measures to prevent such violations.
Midjourney did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a 2022 interview, Midjourney’s CEO David Holz likened the service to a search engine that pulls images from across the internet. He argued that copyright concerns around AI-generated art are similar to how laws have historically adapted to human creativity, suggesting that learning from existing images is a natural part of the creative process.
While many AI developers keep their training data sources private, they often argue that using large amounts of publicly available content to train AI models falls under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law.
This lawsuit adds to a growing list of legal challenges against AI developers like OpenAI and Anthropic in courts across San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, the first significant copyright trial involving generative AI is currently happening in London, where Getty Images is suing Stability AI.
