'Bottomless Pit of Plagiarism': Disney, Universal File the First Major Hollywood Lawsuit Against an AI Startup The complaint alleges that Midjourney copied characters from the movie studios, including Darth Vader and Homer Simpson.
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- Disney and Universal filed a complaint against Midjourney on Wednesday, accusing the AI image-generating startup of “textbook copyright infringement.”
- Disney and Universal allege that Midjourney copied their characters in AI-generated artwork.
Disney and Universal have brought the first major AI copyright lawsuit in Hollywood against AI image-generating startup Midjourney.
In a 110-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Disney and Universal accuse Midjourney of copying famous characters from their copyrighted works. The movie studios state that they have sent "cease and desist" letters to Midjourney's counsel to ask the startup to stop generating material featuring characters developed by the studios. Midjourney has allegedly disregarded their requests.
"Midjourney, which has attracted millions of subscribers and made $300 million last year alone, is focused on its own bottom line," Disney and Universal allege.
Related: A 74-Year-Old Needed a Lawyer, So He Used an AI Avatar in Court. It Didn't Go Well.
Some of Disney's copyrighted characters include Darth Vader from "Star Wars," Elsa from "Frozen," and Homer Simpson from "The Simpsons," while characters from Universal include minions from "Despicable Me," Po from "Kung Fu Panda," and Hiccup from "How to Train Your Dragon."
According to the lawsuit, only Disney and Universal are allowed to commercialize these characters and build a business around them. However, Midjourney has allegedly allowed its subscribers to generate images of characters like Darth Vader in violation of copyright laws.
Disney and Universal included multiple examples in the complaint of AI-generated images from Midjourney featuring characters from "Cars," "Shrek," and other movies.
Disney and Universal are asking for a jury trial, calling Midjourney's actions "textbook copyright infringement" and stating that the AI startup "threatens to upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law."
"Midjourney is the quintessential copyright-free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," Disney and Universal allege.
Midjourney is a text-to-image AI generator that churns out images in seconds based on user prompts. It sells monthly subscriptions ranging from $10 per month for a basic plan to $120 per month for a mega subscription. The startup was founded in 2021 and has since generated $50 million in revenue in 2022 and $300 million in revenue in 2024.
Midjourney notes on its website that it is "a small self-funded team" with "11 full-time staff."
While Disney and Universal's lawsuit against Midjourney represents the first major Hollywood lawsuit against an AI startup, another groundbreaking AI case was filed last week. Reddit became the first major tech company to sue an AI startup, alleging in the complaint that the $61.5 billion startup Anthropic used the site for training data without permission.
AI copyright cases can get expensive, too. Getty Images CEO Craig Peters said last month that Getty has spent millions of dollars in a years-long legal fight with AI image generator Stability AI.
Getty alleged that Stability AI illegally scraped more than 12 million copyright-protected media from its site to train its AI image generator. Getty launched the suit in January 2023; the case is set for an initial trial on June 9.
