On June 11th, the Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal filed a lawsuit against AI company Midjourney over alleged copyright infringement.
The Walt Disney Company
The lawsuit stated that Midjourney’s image-generating service “functions as a virtual vending machine” that creates “endless unauthorized copies” of copyrighted works. After a couple of months, we finally have an update on the matter — so let’s take a look!
Midjourney has issued its first response to the lawsuit brought by Disney and Universal, arguing that “the studios have no power to prevent AI training on their works,” according to Variety. The two studios filed a lawsuit claiming that “users on the platform were able to produce nearly identical copies of the studios’ copyrighted characters.”
Magic Kingdom
Midjourney responded back to the studios, arguing that AI training is protected by “fair use.” Midjourney’s lawyers made a statement claiming, “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.”
Universal Orlando
The AI company also argued that the studios are trying to “have it both ways” — claiming they are using AI tools themselves, while also seeking to punish a popular AI service. Per Variety, Midjourney is a very popular AI tool among visual effects companies and other vendors that work with Disney and Universal. It was even claimed that “many dozens” of Midjourney’s subscribers have email addresses that are directly linked to both Disney and Universal — which suggests both studios’ own employees are even using the service.
Walt Disney Studios in Burbank
The filing also stated, “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,” according to Variety.
Walt Disney Company Headquarters in Burbank
The main point that the Disney-Universal lawsuit largely focuses on is that AI outputs created by Midjourney users are substantially similar to the studios’ copyrighted works. However, Midjourney states that “its users are required to adhere to the terms of service, which forbid infringing on intellectual property rights.” But just creating images similar to copyrighted works is not enough to show infringement, according to the company’s lawyers.
Hogwarts at Universal Orlando
We’ll be keeping a close eye on this, so make sure to stay tuned to the Disney Food Blog for the latest.
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So, according to Midjourney: “Copyright law does not confer absolute control over the use of copyrighted works.” Gotcha.
In what world does this actually make sense?