Disney and Universal Are Suing AI Company Over Copyright Infringement.
It's ironic Disney wants a Trial by Jury after attempting to deny others the same thing.
Both Disney and Universal are suing Midjourney over copyright infringement. A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday at the United States District Court in California.
Hollywood is watching closely as the two companies sue each other over alleged copyright infringement of their characters. It’s also ironic that Disney and Universal are both demanding a trial by jury.
Disney has repeatedly attempted to block court cases filed against it, and even includes a clause in its Disney+ streaming app that demands users agree to arbitration and waive a trial by jury if they use its services.
It is also ironic that Disney is suing an AI company for copyright infringement while promoting the use of AI at the company and even creating a new division to utilize the technology, but to their benefit.
What exactly has Midjourney done?
According to the lawsuit, Midjourney has allegedly ignored repeated attempts for them to stop using copyrighted characters owned by the two companies, including characters from “Cars,” “Frozen,” “Star Wars,” “The Simpsons,” “Shrek,” and more.
Here are examples cited in the lawsuit,
The two companies argue that Midjourney refuses to take “technological measures” to stop the infringement due to its bottom line, as the company made $300 million from subscriptions last year and $200 million in 2023.
The lawsuit claims that Midjourney not only ignores the take-down requests, but the company is doubling down with the copyrighted characters.
“Instead of stopping its infringement, Midjourney has continued to release new versions of its Image Service, which, according to Midjourney’s founder and CEO, have even higher quality infringing images.”
Because AI images can’t be claimed for copyright at this time, the two companies argue that the use of Midjourney’s AI tech with copyrighted characters is “bottomless pit of plagiarism.”
The lawsuit continues, saying, “Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing.”
The irony continues when the lawsuit invokes violating copyright laws.
While I agree this is a big infringement and should be stopped, I can’t help but see the irony in Disney arguing about the misuse of U.S. copyright law, given how Disney has seemingly done so much to get the laws changed and extended in its favor.
“Midjourney’s conduct misappropriates Disney’s and Universal’s intellectual property and threatens to upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law that drive American leadership in movies, television, and other creative arts.”
The two companies also claim that Midjourney uses their characters to promote an Image Service they have that “encouraging even more infringement (and falsely implying Plaintiffs’ endorsement).”
Yes. That easily could be misinterpreted as an endorsement.
Midjourney even uses the characters to promote the service on its “explore” page.
The lawsuit provides many examples of this. Here is one featuring Disney-owned Iron Man.
What is Disney and Universal asking for?
According to the filing, the two companies are asking the court for a preliminary or permanent injunction against Midjourney to stop the use of the copyrighted material.
They are also asking for damages either via the estimated percentage of profits Midjourney gained from the copyrighted material or the maximum statutory damages they can claim.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!