Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement

By&nbspAP pinch Eleanor Butler

Published connected 12/06/2025 - 7:34 GMT+2•Updated 8:16

Disney and Universal sued celebrated artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney connected Wednesday.

This is nan first clip awesome Hollywood companies person taken ineligible action against a shaper of generative AI exertion that could upend nan intermezo industry.

The copyright suit successful a Los Angeles national tribunal claims Midjourney pirated nan libraries of nan 2 Hollywood studios to make and administer “endless unauthorized copies” of their famed characters, specified arsenic Darth Vader from nan Star Wars franchise and nan Minions from “Despicable Me”.

“Midjourney is nan quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image aliases video is made pinch AI aliases different exertion does not make it immoderate little infringing," nan companies authorities successful nan complaint.

The studios besides opportunity nan San Francisco-based AI institution ignored their requests to extremity infringing connected their copyrighted useful and to return technological measures to halt specified image generation.

Midjourney didn’t respond to a petition for remark but its CEO David Holz addressed nan suit successful a play convention telephone pinch users connected Wednesday aft personification asked if it would endanger nan mini startup's future.

“I can’t really talk immoderate ongoing ineligible things because nan world isn’t cool for illustration that, but I deliberation Midjourney is going to beryllium astir for a very agelong time,” Holz said. "I deliberation everybody wants america to beryllium around.”

In a 2022 question and reply pinch The Associated Press, Holz described his image-making work arsenic “kind of for illustration a hunt engine” pulling successful a wide swath of images from crossed nan internet. He presented nan process arsenic a shape of imaginative inspiration, alternatively than plagiarism.

“Can a personification look astatine personification else’s image and study from it and make a akin picture?” Holz said. “Obviously, it’s allowed for group and if it wasn’t, past it would destruct nan full master creation industry, astir apt nan nonprofessional manufacture too. To nan grade that AIs are learning for illustration people, it’s benignant of nan aforesaid point and if nan images travel retired otherwise past it seems for illustration it’s fine.”

The suit against Midjourney comes arsenic a number of different AI companies person sought to make inroads into Hollywood and nan video crippled industry, providing AI devices that tin assistance filmmakers and crippled developers make caller videos, synthesise voices and edit footage.

A movie manufacture group, nan Motion Picture Association, said successful a connection connected Wednesday that “strong copyright protection is nan backbone of our industry” and it supports a “balanced attack to AI that some protects intelligence spot and embraces responsible, human-centred innovation”.

The Recording Industry Association of America, a euphony publishing group fighting its ain ineligible battles against firms that make AI-generated music, endorsed nan suit arsenic a “critical guidelines for quality productivity and responsible innovation”.

Major AI developers don’t typically disclose their information sources but person based on that taking troves of publically accessible online text, images and different media to train their AI systems is protected by nan “fair use” doctrine of American copyright law.

At nan aforesaid time, galore large tech companies are progressively looking to make licensing deals to salary for nan contented their AI systems need.

The studios’ lawsuit joins a increasing number of lawsuits revenge against developers of AI platforms successful San Francisco and New York.

Meanwhile, nan first awesome copyright proceedings of nan generative AI manufacture is underway successful London, pitting Getty Images against Stability AI, shaper of an image-generating instrumentality that competes pinch Midjourney.