Disney and Universal sue Midjourney AI for image copyright infringement
What's the story
Disney and Universal have jointly sued artificial intelligence (AI) company Midjourney for copyright infringement. The lawsuit accuses Midjourney of using and distributing AI-generated characters from popular franchises like Star Wars and The Simpsons without permission. The studios also claim that the company ignored their requests to stop these practices.
Case details
Disney and Universal are demanding a jury trial
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court Central District of California, includes several examples of AI-generated images featuring characters from Cars, Toy Story, Shrek, The Avengers and Despicable Me. Disney and Universal are demanding a jury trial over this matter. They argue that Midjourney's actions could "upend the bedrock incentives of US copyright law."
Accusations
Midjourney is a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism,' says lawsuit
The lawsuit describes Midjourney as a "quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism." Disney and Universal allege that the company continued to release new versions of its image generator even after receiving letters from their counsel asking it to stop further copyright infringement. The studios are seeking monetary damages, a jury trial, and an order barring Midjourney from further copyright infringement.
Company stance
Midjourney's CEO had said they scraped content from the internet
Midjourney has not yet responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit. However, in a 2022 interview with Forbes, CEO David Holz had said that he built the company's database by performing "a big scrape of the internet." This statement suggests that Midjourney may have used publicly available content without explicit permission from creators or copyright holders.
Industry impact
'Piracy is piracy': Disney's chief legal officer
Horacio Gutierrez, Disney's chief legal officer, emphasized the potential of AI technology in a statement. He said they are "optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity." However, he also made it clear that "piracy is piracy," regardless of whether it's done by an AI company or not.
Past cases
This isn't the first time Midjourney has faced such allegations
Notably, this isn't the first time Midjourney has been accused of misusing artists' work to train its AI systems. A California federal judge had previously found that 10 artists plausibly argued these AI companies had copied and saved their work on company servers without permission. This ruling allowed a lawsuit over unauthorized use of images to proceed, highlighting the ongoing legal challenges in this space.