Big Hollywood is taking Generative AI to court, the first major entertainment studios joining authors, artists, content producers, record labels, and other creatives in filing lawsuits alleging copyright infringement.
Disney and NBCUniversal filed a lawsuit against generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) startup Midjourney, alleging it allowed users to create images from text prompts. Enabling users to create videos from text prompts is in the works, according to the 110-page lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, June 11 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, California.
The court document alleges the San Francisco–based firm generates “endless unauthorized copies” of the studios’ intellectual property.
“… Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism,” per the lawsuit.
Lawsuits Set the Stage
Multiple media companies and content producers have filed lawsuits against GenAI software companie— OpenAI (maker of ChatGPT), Microsoft, Anthropic, Midjourney, Stability AI, Perplexity AI, and others. Many complaints claim the AI platforms illegally train various large language models (LLMs) on copyrighted content from media companies.
In some cases, like with the Washington Post, media companies are opting to form content licensing agreements with GenAI firms.
Just some of the other lawsuits in play:
◾Getty Images v. Stability AI
◾Dow Jones & Company, Inc. v. Perplexity AI, Inc.
◾Daily News v. Microsoft and OpenAI
◾Advance Local Media LLC v. Cohere
◾Authors Guild v. OpenAI and Microsoft
◾Ziff Davis Lawsuit vs OpenAI
Book authors, too, have filed lawsuits. California cases over AI trainers’ use of work by writers including Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michael Chabon, Junot Díaz and the comedian Sarah Silverman have been transferred to consolidate with New York lawsuits from novelists Jodi Picoult, John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen, and others.
The first major GenAI copyright trial is underway in London. Getty Images is suing Stability AI, maker of an image-generating tool that competes with Midjourney.
Also across the pond, the first GenAI copyright infringement case was decided in favor of the plantiffs in Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence Inc. The courts decided GenAI did commit copyright infringement by using the material of others as training data without permission.
‘Piracy is Piracy’
Most AI companies facing lawsuits have argued protection under the “fair use” doctrine, which promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. One of the main questions the courts ask is whether the new work is “transformative,” or adds a new meaning or message.
The Disney, NBCU lawsuit alleges Midjourney just “helped itself to countless” copyrighted works to train its software, which “blatantly incorporates and copy Disney’s and Universal’s famous characters.”
Calling the Silicon Valley startup’s behavior “calculated and willful,” both studios are demanding a trial by jury.
“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,” per the lawsuit.
The GenAI platform even refused to implement tech to prevent copyrighted images from being generated, a move implemented by other firms.
“Our world-class IP is built on decades of financial investment, creativity and innovation — investments only made possible by the incentives embodied in copyright law that give creators the exclusive right to profit from their works,” said Horacio E. Gutierrez, Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer of The Walt Disney Company.
“We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity. But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it’s done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing,” Gutierrez added.
Kim Harris, executive vice president and general of counsel of NBCU, said in a statement that all artists’ work and the “significant investment we make in our content” must be protected.
“Theft is theft regardless of the technology used, and this action involves blatant infringement of our copyrights,” Harris added.
Disney and NBCU are seeking unspecified monetary damages, as well as “preliminary and/or permanent injunctive relief enjoining and restraining Midjourney” from infringing on or distributing their copyrighted works.
Midjourney’s Journey
Founded in 2022 by David Holz — the co-founder of computer hardware sensor device manufacturer Leap Motion — Midjourney had more than $200 million in revenue in 2023 and $300 million last year, with almost 21 million users as of September 2024, according to the lawsuit.
The company has been completely bootstrapped and has not secured any venture capital funding. Midjourney made $50 million in its first year, and $500 million in annual revenue by 2025, per reports.
In 2022, Holz told Forbes that Midjourney wasn’t gunning for image creation that could be mistaken for actual photographs. He said the platform was intended to unleash users’ creativity by offering the right tools to develop striking images with a text description.
Original envisioned as an independent research lab, Midjourney was first known for its 2021 Discord bot. Accessible through the “/imagine” command, diverse art was created from simple natural language descriptions.
Open beta for image generation launched on July 12, 2022, with regular improvements and updates continuing to date.
Content Licensing
OpenAI is actively seeking licensing deals with content providers, including major news organizations and publishers. The Washington Post in April inked a deal with OpenAI allowing ChatGPT to display, summarize and quote the newspaper’s content. Coverage areas include politics, global affairs, business, and technology, all surfaced with attribution and direct links to full articles.
There are now an estimated 160 media outlets in 20+ languages and over 20 publishers taking part in OpenAI’s media network, including The Associated Press, Condé Nast, News Corp, TIME, and Reuters. In a show of commitment to local news, OpenAI’s network also includes deals with the Lenfest Institute for Journalism and the American Journalism Project.
While these type of collabs raise possible ethical and other concerns, the partnerships are necessary to drive additional revenue streams to news organizations.
For publishers looking to license content to AI platforms, consider these steps:
◾Understand the AI platform’s licensing needs
◾Identify content and copyright holders
◾Run it by all legal teams
◾Finalize agreements
◾Test and Upload files
Motion Picture Association
“Strong copyright protection is the backbone of our industry. A balanced approach to AI that both protects intellectual property and embraces responsible, human-centered innovation is critical for maintaining America’s global leadership in creative industries,” said Charles Rivkin, Motion Picture Association (MPA) Chairman and CEO.
The MPA serves as the leading voice and advocate of the motion picture, home video, and television industries. It works in every corner of the globe to advance the creative industry, protect its members’ content across all screens, defend the creative and artistic freedoms of storytellers, and support innovative distribution models that bring an expansion of viewing choices to audiences around the world.
Its member studios include Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
