In first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Hollywood giants sue AI firm for copyright infringement

Disney Enterprises, Inc., Marvel Characters, Inc., MVL Film Finance LLC, Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, and Universal City Studios Productions LLLP and DreamWorks Animation v. Midjourney, Inc.

In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, entertainment companies Disney and Universal are suing AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement.

The 110-page lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a U.S. district court in Los Angeles, includes detailed appendices illustrating the plaintiffs' claims with visual examples and alleges that Midjourney stole "countless" copyrighted works to train its AI engine in the creation of AI-generated images. 

Many companies have gone after AI firms for copyright infringement, such as The New York Times (which sued OpenAI and Microsoft), Sony Music Entertainment (which filed a suit against AI song generator startups Suno and Udio) and Getty Images (against Stability AI). But this is the first time major Hollywood players have joined the fight against the AI landscape.

The suit accuses Midjourney, a well-known force in the AI image generation space with around 20 million registered users, according to data insights company Demandsage, of "selling an artificial intelligence ("AI") image-generating service ("Image Service") that functions as a virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies of Disney's and Universal's copyrighted works."

The lawsuit details Midjourney's alleged infringement of popular Disney and Universal figures, including Shrek, Homer Simpson and Darth Vader.

It seeks unspecified damages from the AI company and aims to prevent it from launching an upcoming video service "without appropriate copyright protection measures."

Midjourney did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment.