The Walt Disney logo is displayed on the screen during the presentation of Walt Disney Studios at the Colosseum of Caesars Palace at Cinemacon 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 3, 2025.
Valerie Macon | AFP | Getty images
Disney And Universal united its forces in a trial against the creator of artificial intelligence Midjourney, alleging the violation of copyright.
This is the first copyright trial of the AI of the Giants of Hollywood.
The trial claims that the company used and distributed characters generated by the AI of movie studios like Star Wars, the Simpsons and other films and alleys that Midjourney has not taken care of the requests to stop.
The studios have included many examples in the image costume generated by the AI-Ai of cars, Toy Story, Shrek, The Avengers and the Minions of Despicable Me.
Disney and Universal require a trial with jury, arguing that actions threaten to “upset the incentives for the foundation of the American copyright law”.
“Midjourney is the Quintessentiel headboard and a fund without a plagiarism,” said the film studios, calling “calculated and deliberate” actions.
The two companies said they had sent letters to Midjourney’s lawyer to prevent a new copyright violation, but the company continued to publish new iterations from its image generator.
“Midjourney, who attracted millions of subscribers and made $ 300 million last year, focuses on his own results and has ignored the applicants’ demands,” said the trial.
CNBC contacted Midjourney to comment on the case.
The rise of AI has increased the challenges of the media industry and has aroused concerns about how to protect the content from illegal copyright. This is one of the most important legal battles of copyright to date involving AI.
“Creativity is the cornerstone of our business,” said Kimberley Harris, executive vice-president and general lawyer of Nbcuniversal, in a press release. “We bring this action today to protect the hard work of all the artists whose work enjoys and inspires us and the important investment that we make in our content.”
Midjourney told Disney that he was examining the letter but had never answered, according to the trial. Universal said Midjourney had not responded to his letter.
“We are optimistic about the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsible for a tool to continue human creativity,” said Horacio Gutierrez, executive vice-president and legal director and responsible for the compliance of the Walt Disney Company, in a press release. “But hacking is hacking, and the fact that it is done by an AI company makes it no less counterfeit.”
The trial was filed in the United States district court, the California central district.
WATCH: Disney, Universal File Complaint against the Société d’Ia Midjourney alleging copyright
Disclosure: Universal belongs to Nbcuniversal, the parent company of CNBC. Comcast has nbcuniversal.
