Midjourney AI Company Responds to Universal Disney Lawsuit
Midjourney Claims the Pair "Want to Have it Both Ways"
Disney and Universal are suing the AI start-up company Midjourney, claiming they were copyright infringing on their IP with their generative AI images. Basically, the pair argue that characters generated appear too close to the original IP and it was causing them damages.
Disney and Universal reportedly told Midjourney to stop using their characters for generative AI images “several times.”
The lawsuit claimed that they did not stop,
“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.”
Now Midjourney’s attorneys are fighting back, arguing the images fall under “fair use.”
“Copyright law does not confer absolute control over the use of copyrighted works. The limited monopoly granted by copyright must give way to fair use, which safeguards countervailing public interests in the free flow of ideas and information.”
Midjourney is also accusing Disney and Universal of trying to “have it both ways” because they are using AI tools for their projects, but want to punish AI companies for using the same tools.
“Plaintiffs cannot have it both ways, seeking to profit — through their use of Midjourney and other generative AI tools — from industry-standard AI training practices on the one hand, while on the other hand accusing Midjourney of wrongdoing for the same.”
The lawsuit argues that Midjourney AI software is used by visual effects and other companies working for Disney and Universal.
According to Variety, the lawsuit points out that many email addresses of customers using the service work in and around Disney and Universal.
The response also states that “many dozens” of Midjourney’s subscribers have email addresses linked to Disney and Universal — suggesting the studios’ own employees are also using the service.
However, Midjourney’s images do appear to be a bit closer to the IP than “fair use.”
Here are some examples shown in the lawsuit filing from June,
However, Midjourney argues that their terms of service prohibit copyright infringement, but they are allowed to generate images they aren’t using for output or profit.
Midjourney’s lawyers are claiming nuance, saying,
“Indeed, there are any number of legitimate, noninfringing grounds to create images incorporating characters from popular culture like those claimed by Plaintiffs, including non-commercial fan art, experimentation and ideation, and social commentary and criticism. Plaintiffs seek to stifle them all.”
Disney is using AI themselves.
It is true that Disney is using AI for some of their projects and it recently was discovered that they were going to use the tools for the live-action “Moana” film and “Tron: Ares” but they scrapped the footage and ideas.
This is different as the IP owner themselves are using AI tools to create within their own copyrighted material. But now Hollywood studios, like Disney and Universal, are also concerned about the lack of copyright for their AI-generated material.
Currently, AI-generated materials are not allowed to be copyrighted, but some are trying to change those laws.
Disney excels at copyright law as they successfully lobbied for lengthy time extensions more than once.
What a mess this has become.
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