The Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal have filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against image generation platform Midjourney. The plaintiffs accuse the developers of the service of systematic copyright infringement of characters and visual images from cult franchises.
According to the lawsuit, Midjourney used thousands of copyrighted images to train its neural network models without obtaining the appropriate licenses or permissions from the copyright holders. The affected brands include "Star Wars, ""Frozen, ""The Simpsons, "" Minions,"and" Shrek."
According to representatives of the studios, the images created with the help of Midjourney are "almost indistinguishable from the originals" and are used as part of a commercial product, the revenue of which, according to the plaintiffs, exceeded $300 million in 2024. It is noted that the service ignored previous legal appeals and continued public access to generating content based on other people's intellectual property objects.
Disney General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez described the platform's actions as "algorithmic piracy", emphasizing that the origin of the violator does not affect the essence of the violation. NBCUniversal spokeswoman Kim Harris, in turn, pointed out the need to protect the rights of creators and investors behind cultural brands and images that "shape the global entertainment industry."
The plaintiffs are seeking an immediate injunction against the use of their intellectual property as part of Midjourney's work, as well as compensation for damages and a jury trial.
The plaintiffs are seeking an immediate injunction against the use of their intellectual property as part of Midjourney's work, as well as compensation for damages and a jury trial.
