Recently, the generative AI platform Midjourney faced legal challenges from both Disney and Universal Pictures. These two companies jointly filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Wednesday, accusing Midjourney of using their film and TV content without authorization to train its image generation and editing models.
According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, Disney and Universal Pictures claimed that Midjourney continued to infringe on their intellectual property despite previous demands to stop such actions. In the lawsuit, numerous images generated by Midjourney were listed, including well-known copyrighted characters like Homer Simpson and Darth Vader. This has sparked intense debate over copyright usage.
Source note: Image generated by AI, authorized service provider Midjourney
In the lawsuit, the two companies requested the court to order Midjourney to compensate for economic losses and hoped for a jury trial. They also requested the court to prohibit Midjourney from further infringing on their copyrights and ensure no similar incidents occur in the future. This lawsuit not only concerns Midjourney's future but may also have a profound impact on the entire generative AI industry.
In fact, in recent years, technology companies like OpenAI have been seeking legal protection to utilize public works (even those under copyright protection) as training materials without obtaining creator permission or paying fees. With the rapid development of generative AI technology, some film companies are beginning to explore applying this new technology to their own creations. However, this field is still in its infancy, with limited application scope.
The legal battle between Disney and Universal is not only a challenge to Midjourney but also a deep reflection on how the industry should handle copyright issues. As technology advances, how to balance innovation and copyright protection will be a major issue that all stakeholders need to face together.