Walt Disney and Comcast’s Universal have initiated legal action against Midjourney, alleging that the company’s AI-driven image generator operates as a “bottomless pit of plagiarism,” particularly due to its use of iconic characters from their respective film franchises.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles and claims that Midjourney has unlawfully copied characters from the two entertainment giants, including Darth Vader from “Star Wars,” Elsa from “Frozen,” and the Minions from “Despicable Me,” distributing numerous unauthorized reproductions of these copyrighted figures.
Midjourney representatives have yet to issue a public response to the lawsuit.
Horacio Gutierrez, Disney’s executive vice president and chief legal officer, expressed optimism about the potential of AI technology, noting, “We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity, but piracy is piracy, and the fact that it’s done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing.”
Katy McTaggart, NBCUniversal’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, stated that the lawsuit aims to safeguard the dedication of artists who contribute to the entertainment industry and protect significant investments made in content creation.
The Motion Picture Association (MPA), a key film industry trade group, voiced its support for the lawsuit, urging AI companies to uphold intellectual property rights. MPA Chairman Charles Rivkin remarked, “Strong copyright protection is the backbone of our industry. A balanced approach to AI that both protects intellectual property and embraces responsible, human-centered innovation is critical for maintaining America’s global leadership in creative industries.”
The lawsuit further asserts that Midjourney dismissed requests from the studios to cease the infringement of their works or provide technological solutions to prevent the generation of AI-created characters that borrow heavily from established copyrighted figures.
Instead, the complaint alleges that Midjourney has continued to produce new iterations of its AI image service that showcase increasingly high-quality infringing images.
Midjourney’s platform creates animated visual representations from text prompts provided by users.
In the legal action filed by seven corporate entities associated with Disney and Universal, the studios presented examples of AI-generated animations containing characters from their films, such as Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson on a skateboard, Iron Man flying above the clouds, and Buzz Lightyear lifting off. Additionally, the image generator recreated characters from Universal’s lineup, including Toothless from “How to Train Your Dragon,” Shrek, and Po from “Kung Fu Panda.”
According to the complaint, “By helping itself to plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney’s and Universal’s famous characters — without investing a penny in their creation — Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism.”
The lawsuit describes Midjourney’s actions as both deliberate and egregious.
Seeking Legal Remedies
Disney and Universal are seeking a preliminary injunction from the court, aimed at preventing Midjourney from further reproducing their works or continuing to offer its image or video generation services without protections against copyright infringement. The studios are also requesting unspecified monetary damages.
The allegations indicate that Midjourney utilized the studios’ copyrighted material to train its image-generation service, allowing the creation of unauthorized reproductions of their iconic characters. Founded in 2021 by David Holz, Midjourney has reportedly generated $300 million in revenue last year through its subscription model.
This lawsuit is not the first instance of Midjourney facing scrutiny for allegedly misappropriating artists’ works for its AI systems. A federal judge in California previously ruled that a group of 10 artists had made a plausible argument against Midjourney and other companies regarding the unauthorized use and storage of their works, permitting the related lawsuit to advance.
These cases reflect a growing trend of lawsuits initiated by copyright owners, including authors, news agencies, and record labels, against tech firms for utilizing copyrighted materials in AI training without authorization.
In a 2022 interview with Forbes, Midjourney CEO David Holz acknowledged the company had built its database through a “big scrape of the Internet,” and when questioned about obtaining consent from artists, he remarked, “there isn’t really a way to get a hundred million images and know where they’re coming from.”
© Thomson Reuters 2025
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
