Disney and Universal sue Midjourney: The AI fight for copyrights!

Disney and Universal sue Midjourney: The AI fight for copyrights!

Disney and Universal submitted a lawsuit against AI image generator Midjourney at a US court in California. The accusation is that Midjourney generates copyrighted characters without license or approval. Affected figures include Shrek, Darth Vader and Buzz Lightyear. In the application, serious allegations are made against Midjourney, which is referred to as the "virtual vending machine that produces unauthorized copies" of the works. The plaintiffs argue that Midjourney has not contributed to the development of these characters and still uses their popularity for their own commercial purposes.

The legal disputes about the use of artificial intelligence are in a complicated legal framework. The use of AI technology raises basic questions about copyrights. Disney spokesman emphasize that "piracy is piracy", regardless of the technology it takes place. Midjourney not only faces the lawsuit of Disney and Universal, but is also the focus of similar allegations by other artists who claim that they have used their works unauthorized for the training of the AI models.

The lawsuit in detail

The lawsuit was in the form of a 110-page application at the U.S. District Court submitted in Los Angeles. Disney had already sent a cease and desist declaration to Midjourney last year, but had no satisfaction. Likewise, Midjourney did not respond to a similar declaration of cease and desist from NBCuniversal. In their complaint, the plaintiffs request compensation, the exact amount of which has not been specified. Midjourney generated around $ 300 million last year and the lawsuit is a significant escalation in the legal struggle for AI software training in the USA.

In the application, the behavior of Midjourney is labeled as an illegal appropriation of the intellectual property of Disney and NBCuniversal. The plaintiffs argue that the AI platform illegally uses copyrighted works to train your software to create the output. This leads to the disturbing question to what extent AI-generated content can be considered problematic by copyright.

legal gray zones and fair use

Midjourney relies on the fair-use principle that allows protected works in the United States under certain conditions. However, there is a legal gray area with regard to AI training and the use of copyright-protected works as training data. The question is to what extent AI platforms such as Midjourney actually contribute to creating new creative content or simply reproduce existing intellectual property. This discussion is also stimulated by the development of Large Language Models (LLMS) such as Chatgpt and Azure Openaai, which raise similar legal challenges in terms of copyright.

The uncertainties on the legal framework for the use of AI remain in the creation of copyrighted content. While some legal provisions have made the reproduction of legally accessible works for text and data mining since 2021, it is unclear to what extent these regulations will have a restrictive effect on the development of AI. Experts fear that Disney and Universal's lawsuit could have far-reaching effects on the entire industry of AI-based creation.