While we are no experts on animation or light sabres, this case
is a blockbuster! Both for Intellectual Property law and the future
of generative AI.
Background
Midjourney is an AI company known for generating images based on
user prompts. Type in "Spider-Man flying above New York"
or "Elsa in a cyberpunk setting," and voila, you get
something eerily familiar.
But here's the problem: Disney and Universal claim those
results aren't just similar, they are outright copies of their
iconic characters. Think Darth Vader, the Minions, Yoda, and Shrek
, all allegedly generated without any license, permission, or fair
use justification.
The dispute
On 12 June 2025, Disney and Universal filed a copyright
infringement lawsuit in Los Angeles, calling Midjourney's
platform a "bottomless pit of plagiarism." They argue the
company scraped billions of copyrighted images from the internet to
train its AI without investing a cent in the original works or
obtaining proper rights.
Disney's legal chief put it bluntly: "Piracy is piracy,
and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it
any less infringing."
Why this matters
This lawsuit pits two of the world's largest entertainment
companies against one of the most prominent AI image generators,
and it's not just about Elsa's face or Buzz Lightyear's
helmet. It's about the future of copyright law and whether
training AI models on copyrighted content without permission is
lawful under fair use.
So far, Midjourney has not responded to the suit. But legal
commentators suggest the outcome may reshape how AI companies
collect data and how creators protect their work. Some AI startups
may soon need to retrain their models using only licensed content
or risk being shut down.
The takeaway
In the race to develop AI tools, training data is gold. But if that
data includes protected content, without license or consent, it
could become a legal landmine. Whether you are a startup founder or
part of a big studio, this case is a wake-up call: get your
copyright house in order before pressing "train."
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