Hollywood Studios Sue AI Image Generator Over Copyright Claims
▼ Summary
– Disney and NBCUniversal sued Midjourney for copyright infringement, alleging the AI company enables users to create images of characters like Darth Vader and Shrek.
– The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, is the first major legal action by Hollywood studios against a generative AI company.
– Midjourney’s AI models were trained on copyrighted artworks without permission, allowing users to generate images from text prompts.
– Disney’s general counsel called Midjourney a “bottomless pit of plagiarism,” accusing it of enabling “AI slop” featuring copyrighted characters.
– The complaint includes examples of AI-generated images resembling Disney, Marvel, and DreamWorks characters, such as Yoda and Minions.
Major Hollywood studios have launched a landmark lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company, alleging widespread copyright violations through its image-generation technology. Disney, NBCUniversal, and several subsidiaries filed the complaint in a California federal court this week, targeting Midjourney for allegedly enabling users to create unauthorized depictions of protected characters.
The legal action centers on Midjourney’s platform, which transforms text prompts into AI-generated visuals. The studios argue the system was trained using copyrighted material scraped from the internet without permission, including proprietary characters like Darth Vader, Shrek, and Marvel superheroes. Court documents describe the service as facilitating “industrial-scale plagiarism” by producing what plaintiffs term “AI-generated knockoffs” of protected intellectual property.
Disney’s chief legal officer emphasized that unauthorized use of copyrighted works remains unlawful regardless of the technology involved. The filing details how Midjourney’s algorithms allegedly ingested protected content through automated web crawlers and other data collection tools. Among the exhibits are side-by-side comparisons showing Midjourney outputs alongside original copyrighted characters from franchises like Star Wars, Despicable Me, and DreamWorks Animation films.
Evidence submitted to the court demonstrates how users can generate detailed images of trademarked characters through simple text commands. Examples include prompts like “Yoda holding a lightsaber” or “Minions playing basketball” that yield professional-quality digital artwork. The plaintiffs contend this functionality effectively circumvents licensing requirements and dilutes the value of their intellectual property.
This case represents the entertainment industry’s most aggressive legal challenge to generative AI technology to date. The outcome could establish important precedents regarding how copyright law applies to AI systems trained on protected content. Legal experts anticipate this could spark similar actions across creative industries as companies seek to protect their assets in the digital age.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and requests court orders to prevent Midjourney from using the studios’ copyrighted material for training or output generation. As AI capabilities advance rapidly, this confrontation highlights growing tensions between technology innovators and content creators over fair use boundaries. The entertainment giants’ unified action signals their determination to defend what they view as systemic infringement threatening their creative works and business models.
(Source: Ars Technica)
