Major Movie Studios File Landmark Copyright Lawsuit Against AI Company

The Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal have jointly filed a groundbreaking copyright infringement lawsuit against an artificial intelligence image-generation company, Midjourney, saying its theft of their intellectual property is “calculated and willful.”The lawsuit, submitted to the U.S. District Court at Los Angeles, accuses the tech company of exploiting intellectual property by generating downloaded images of beloved characters without proper authorization. The case represents the first significant effort from major studios to tackle the complex issues surrounding copyright law and AI.“Midjourney’s bootlegging business model and defiance of U.S copyright law are not only an attack on Disney, Universal, and the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life, but are also a broader threat to the American motion picture industry which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation’s economy,” the lawsuit says.Disney and NBCUniversal claim that Midjourney has transformed its image-generation service into a virtual “vending machine” of copyrighted material, allowing users to create unlimited, unauthorized reproductions of iconic characters like Disney’s Darth Vader and NBCUniversal’s Minions.A particularly sharp contention of the lawsuit notes that users, by entering simple text prompts, can receive high-quality downloadable images of intellectual properties that include Disney’s “Frozen” characters, Marvel superheroes, and Universal’s Shrek.The studios are seeking unspecified damages, including a share of Midjourney’s earnings generated from infringing activities, statutory penalties, and injunctive relief to stop unauthorized use of copyrighted works. The lawsuit claims that Midjourney earned $300 million in 2024 while actively engaging in copyright infringement.“Midjourney’s infringement is calculated and willful. Plaintiffs have asked Midjourney to stop infringing their copyrighted works and, at a minimum, to adopt technological measures, which other AI services have implemented, to prevent the generation of infringing material. But Midjourney, which has attracted millions of subscribers and made $300 million last year alone, is focused on its own bottom line and ignored Plaintiffs’ demands,” the lawsuit says.The lawsuit goes further to allege the use of these copyrighted works in training Midjourney’s AI model. According to the filing, such practices directly challenge fundamental principles of American copyright law, threatening creative industries responsible for generating billions of dollars in economic activity and millions of jobs.“Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing,” the companies say in the suit.The lawsuit strikes at the heart of an ongoing debate over the rights of creators and the fair use of copyrighted materials in training generative AI models. Studios argue that existing copyright laws provide sufficient frameworks to handle new challenges posed by AI, but highlight that the courts hold a crucial role in defining the boundaries.Midjourney has reportedly started teasing future applications of its model, including video generation, which raises further alarm for Disney and NBCUniversal.“Midjourney has chosen to double down on its unlawful actions by releasing and promoting even newer versions of its Image Service and teasing its soon-to-be-released commercial AI video service,” the lawsuit says.Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is already under way in London as Getty Images has sued an artificial intelligence company, Stability AI.

Major Movie Studios File Landmark Copyright Lawsuit Against AI Company

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