On June 11, 2025, Disney and Universal Studios filed a landmark federal lawsuit against Midjourney, an AI image-generation company, claiming “massive and deliberate copyright infringement.” The lawsuit, lodged in U.S. District Court, alleges Midjourney allows users to create unauthorized images of iconic characters such as Elsa and Shrek. This case challenges the fundamental operations of generative AI firms that rely on scraped internet content, posing significant questions about copyright law’s applicability to AI training practices.
The plaintiffs also assert that Midjourney ignored cease-and-desist letters and continued to infringe copyright, seeking injunctive relief and proactive filtering to prevent future misuse. This lawsuit signals a pivotal moment in the legal landscape surrounding AI, building on similar cases like Getty Images v. Stability AI and The New York Times v. OpenAI. Depending on the ruling, the outcome may reshape the relationship between AI development and intellectual property rights, prompting potential licensing frameworks for AI-generated content.
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