Disney and Universal Sue Midjourney Over AI-Generated Copies of Characters

Two Hollywood powerhouses, Disney and Universal, are taking Midjourney to court over allegations that its AI image-generation technology replicates their iconic film characters.

The lawsuit, filed in California federal court, focuses on Midjourney’s ability to generate images of characters like Darth Vader, Shrek, Buzz Lightyear, Yoda, Elsa from Frozen, and others at users’ request. The studios argue the tool effectively acts as a "mass copying machine," enabling limitless variations of copyrighted characters without permission or compensation to rights holders.

A core allegation is that Midjourney deliberately leverages the popularity of these characters to attract users and promote its services, despite investing nothing in their creation. Disney and Universal also claim Midjourney ignored their demands to restrict such capabilities. This stands in stark contrast, they note, to other AI developers who implemented safeguards like prompt filters and copyright checks.

The studios express heightened concern over Midjourney’s planned video-generation service. They believe the tool, currently in training, likely already uses their content and could soon enable unauthorized video creation featuring their characters. The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial, asserting the infringement is clear-cut.

This lawsuit marks Hollywood’s first major legal challenge against generative AI developers, though similar disputes are becoming industry-wide trends. Media giants like The New York Times, author groups, and music labels have previously sued companies such as OpenAI (creator of ChatGPT) and Anthropic (developer of Claude).