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Disney and Universal Sue Generative AI Service for Video Piracy

Midjourney's generative AI service is "a virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies of Disney’s and Universal’s copyrighted works," the studios told a federal court Wednesday in a complaint alleging direct and secondary copyright infringement. The suit, filed with the…

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U.S. District Court for Central California (docket 2:25-cv-05275), called Midjourney "the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism." The plaintiffs said they have asked Midjourney to adopt the same technological measures that other AI services have to prevent generation of infringing material. Instead, they said, Midjourney's forthcoming commercial AI video service apparently "will generate, publicly display, and distribute videos featuring Disney’s and Universal’s copyrighted characters." The suit asks for unspecified damages and an injunction stopping Midjourney from copyright infringement or offering its image or video services "without appropriate copyright protection measures to prevent such infringement." Midjourney didn't comment.