June 2025 Newsletter - Disney, Universal Sue AI Image Generator Midjourney for Copyright Infringement
On June 11, 2025, several animation and film studios — including Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Universal Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation — jointly filed a lawsuit accusing AI image generator company Midjourney of infringing on their character copyrights. The characters include Darth Vader from Star Wars, Elsa from Frozen, and the Minions from Despicable Me.
Midjourney has generated animated content featuring characters such as Yoda wielding a lightsaber, Bart Simpson riding a skateboard, Marvel's Iron Man soaring above the clouds and Pixar's Buzz Lightyear taking flight — all without authorization.
"By helping itself to plaintiffs' copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters -- without investing a penny in their creation -- Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the suit alleges.
Disney's executive vice president said in a statement: “We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity, but piracy is piracy, and the fact that it's done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing.”
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Reference Materials:
2.https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/11/disney-universal-ai-lawsuit