Disney, Universal Sue AI Startup Midjourney: ‘Plagiarism’ | Entrepreneur

Disney and Common have introduced the primary main AI copyright lawsuit in Hollywood towards AI image-generating startup Midjourney.

In a 110-page grievance filed in U.S. District Courtroom in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Disney and Common accuse Midjourney of copying well-known characters from their copyrighted works. The film studios state that they’ve despatched “stop and desist” letters to Midjourney’s counsel to ask the startup to cease producing materials that includes characters developed by the studios. Midjourney has allegedly disregarded their requests.

“Midjourney, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of subscribers and made $300 million final 12 months alone, is concentrated by itself backside line,” Disney and Common allege.

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A few of Disney’s copyrighted characters embrace Darth Vader from “Star Wars,” Elsa from “Frozen,” and Homer Simpson from “The Simpsons,” whereas characters from Common embrace minions from “Despicable Me,” Po from “Kung Fu Panda,” and Hiccup from “Tips on how to Practice Your Dragon.”

In line with the lawsuit, solely Disney and Common are allowed to commercialize these characters and construct a enterprise round them. Nevertheless, Midjourney has allegedly allowed its subscribers to generate photos of characters like Darth Vader in violation of copyright legal guidelines.

Disney and Common included a number of examples within the grievance of AI-generated photos from Midjourney that includes characters from “Vehicles,” “Shrek,” and different films.

Disney and Common are asking for a jury trial, calling Midjourney’s actions “textbook copyright infringement” and stating that the AI startup “threatens to upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright legislation.”

“Midjourney is the quintessential copyright-free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism,” Disney and Common allege.

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Midjourney is a text-to-image AI generator that churns out photos in seconds based mostly on consumer prompts. It sells month-to-month subscriptions starting from $10 per 30 days for a fundamental plan to $120 per 30 days for a mega subscription. The startup was based in 2021 and has since generated $50 million in income in 2022 and $300 million in income in 2024.

Midjourney notes on its web site that it’s “a small self-funded workforce” with “11 full-time workers.”

Whereas Disney and Common’s lawsuit towards Midjourney represents the primary main Hollywood lawsuit towards an AI startup, one other groundbreaking AI case was filed final week. Reddit turned the primary main tech firm to sue an AI startup, alleging within the grievance that the $61.5 billion startup Anthropic used the location for coaching knowledge with out permission.

AI copyright instances can get costly, too. Getty Pictures CEO Craig Peters stated final month that Getty has spent hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in a years-long authorized struggle with AI picture generator Stability AI.

Getty alleged that Stability AI illegally scraped greater than 12 million copyright-protected media from its website to coach its AI picture generator. Getty launched the swimsuit in January 2023; the case is ready for an preliminary trial on June 9.