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Disney and Universal filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against AI image generation platform Midjourney on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Artists have long raised concerns over AI training practices — and media organizations have taken legal action against AI companies — but this marks the first direct legal engagement from Hollywood studios.
Previously, the two entertainment giants sent letters to Midjourney’s legal counsel demanding that the company cease the reproduction of protected works, emphasizing that other AI companies had already adopted measures to prevent this kind of use. Midjourney told Disney it was reviewing the letter, according to the lawsuit, but did not reply to Universal’s separate communication.
Lawyers seek to learn more about Midjourney model training in court
In the complaint, attorneys for Disney and Universal wrote that “Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism.” They accused the company of “helping itself to Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works” and then distributing images that blatantly incorporate famous characters, including Darth Vader and Bart Simpson.
The lawsuit notes that users don’t even need to explicitly name characters to get infringing outputs, and said that entering a prompt such as “superhero fight scene” produces two recognizable versions of Spider-Man. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they plan to use legal discovery to explore and illuminate the specifics of Midjourney’s training methods.
“Midjourney’s Image Service was developed using innumerable unauthorized copies of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works,” they wrote, “and it operates by reproducing, publicly displaying, making available, and distributing additional infringing copies and derivatives of those works.”
Disney and Universal are requesting a jury trial.
Case may set industry standards and strengthen protections for artists
This lawsuit represents a pivotal moment in the ongoing discussions around intellectual property and generative AI, particularly how the tools rely on copyrighted inputs. The outcome of the Midjourney case could set a significant precedent for major studios and smaller creators seeking similar protections.
In March, a U.S. court determined that AI cannot legally be considered the author of a work. Two months later, the U.S. Copyright Office ruled that not all AI-generated depictions of copyrighted characters qualify as transformative works eligible for protection. According to The Authors’ Guide, nearly a dozen copyright infringement lawsuits have been brought in California and New York courts against various AI companies for the unauthorized use of authors’ works to train their generative AI models.
“This legal action underscores the urgent need for clear guidelines and robust technological solutions that ensure attribution, detect infringement, and protect the original works that fuel the generative AI revolution,” co-founder and CEO of AI detection company Copyleaks Alon Yamin told eWeek. “This isn’t about stifling innovation; it’s about building a sustainable, ethical AI ecosystem where creators are compensated, recognized for their work, and their rights are upheld.”
Read eWeek coverage about authors’ takes on creative writing produced by AI.