“Textbook Copyright Infringement”: Disney and Universal SUE AI Image Generator Midjourney
Disney, Universal, and some of their entertainment companies He filed a lawsuit On Wednesday, the company alleges that it committed copyright infringement against popular AI creative service Midjourney. This is a big move from power players, and it definitely creates ripple effects across the AI and entertainment industry, and it flows all the way to what can be created using AI tools.
Mid Journey It’s one of many AI Image Generator It uses technology from generated AI text to images. With an account, anyone can use the model to create digital images. Many AI image generators have policies and internal guardrails that prevent people from recreating brand logos, celebrity portraits, and other recognizable and sometimes copyrighted materials. Disney and Universal claim that Mid Journey did not take these precautions even after contacting the company to express concern.
The company said in the lawsuit that Midjourney’s AI image and future video generation technology “blatantly incorporates and copies famous Disney and Universal characters” without having to properly license or take on the original creation. “The Mid Journey is a typical copyright freerider and a bottomless hole in plagiarism,” they wrote. Midjourney did not respond to requests for comment.
The 100-page lawsuit details how Midjourney can enable users to replicate characters from various worlds of Disney’s and Universal, such as Marvel, Star Wars. This includes examples of images that companies could generate using Midjourney, which features some of the iconic characters, such as Shrek, Star Wars, and Dragon Training Methods.
Disney has included these images in the lawsuit to display AI images created in Midjourney, which mimics copyrighted characters.
Copyright It is one of the central legal and ethical issues of AI, and this is far from the first lawsuit between entertainment companies and AI companies. There is an ongoing class action lawsuit against Stability AI from a collection of artists led by Karla Ortiz. Publishers like The New York Times are also concerned, suing ChatGpt Maker Openai. (Disclosure: CNET’s parent company Ziff Davis filed a lawsuit against Openai in April, claiming it infringed Ziff Davis’s copyright in training and operating AI systems.)
At the same time, some entertainment companies are slowly exploring ways to integrate AI into creative workflows. Disney is quite a mom about AI and doesn’t support or seek partnerships like Entertainment Pier Lions Gatebut it does not publicly rule out the possibility. This possibility is reflected in a statement Disney made by email to CNET.
“We are bullish on the promises of AI technology and are optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to increase human creativity,” said Horacio Gutierrez, Senior Vice President and Chief Law and Compliance Officer, in a statement. “However, the fact that copyright infringement is copyright infringement and is being carried out by AI companies does not infringe it.”
Another example Disney cites in the lawsuit.
read more: In the Hollywood AI Power Fighting: Where does human creativity come from here?
The lawsuit marks the path forward for Disney and Universal, adding another strand to the already intertwined legal web.
“The lawsuit filed by Disney and Universal is important for drawing a line into the sand with AI developers like Midjourney,” wrote Robert Rosenberg, an intellectual property lawyer and former advisor at Showtime Networks, in an email. “As the lawsuit explains, the only way AI platforms can output images of Yoda, Shrek, or Darth Vader is because they trained the models by ingesting copyrighted images of these characters. They are not inventing new characters here.”
For now, we need to wait for this case and how the other courts proceed. In the meantime, Midjourney users and other AI users will be able to continue using these services. Please check for more details Please send us a guide Understand copyright in the age of AI.