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Sara Fischer: Disney, NBCU Sue AI Firm Over Copyright
Disney and NBCUniversal have teamed up to sue Midjourney, a generative AI company, accusing it of copyright infringement, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: It’s the first legal action that major Hollywood studios have taken against a generative AI company.
- Hollywood’s AI concerns so far have mostly been from actors and writers trying to defend their name, image and likeness from being leveraged by movie studios without a fair value trade. Now, those studios are trying to protect themselves against AI tech giants.
Zoom in: The complaint, filed in a U.S. District Court in central California, accuses Midjourney of both direct and secondary copyright infringement by using the studios’ intellectual property to train their large language model and by displaying AI-generated images of their copyrighted characters.
- The filing shows dozens of visual examples that it claims show how Midjourney’s image generation tool produces replicas of their copyright-protected characters, such as NBCU’s Minions characters, and Disney characters from movies such as “The Lion King” and “Aladdin.”
Between the lines: Disney and NBCU claim that they tried to talk to Midjourney about the issue before taking legal action, but unlike other generative AI platforms that they say agreed to implement measures to stop the theft of their IP, Midjourney did not take the issue seriously.
- Midjourney “continued to release new versions of its Image Service, which, according to Midjourney’s founder and CEO, have even higher quality infringing images,” the complaint reads. Midjourney, “is focused on its own bottom line and ignored Plaintiffs’ demands,” it continues.
Zoom out: It’s notable that Disney and NBCU, which own two of the largest Hollywood IP libraries, have teamed up to sue Midjourney.
- While the Motion Picture Association of America represents all of Hollywood’s biggest studios, its members — which also include Amazon, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Sony and Warner Bros. — have very different overall business goals.
- Of note: Other creative sectors have taken similar approaches. More than a dozen major news companies teamed up to sue AI company Cohere in February. The News Media Alliance, which represents thousands of news companies, also signed onto that complaint.
What they’re saying: “Our world-class IP is built on decades of financial investment, creativity and innovation — investments only made possible by the incentives embodied in copyright law that give creators the exclusive right to profit from their works,” said Horacio Gutierrez, senior executive vice president, chief legal and compliance officer of The Walt Disney Company.
- “We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity. But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it’s done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing.”
- “We are bringing this action today to protect the hard work of all the artists whose work entertains and inspires us and the significant investment we make in our content. Theft is theft regardless of the technology used, and this action involves blatant infringement of our copyrights,” said Kim Harris, executive vice president and general counsel of NBCU.
What to watch: The lawsuit suggests Hollywood heavyweights will try to focus their copyright fight on platforms that create and distribute replicas of their copyrighted content, rather than the users of those platforms.
Sara Fischer, a digital media and technology reporter at Axios, is a trusted voice on the evolving intersection of media, advertising, and tech. Known for her sharp analysis of trends shaping the future of media, she dives deep into the dynamics of platforms like Disney, Netflix, and Google, offering insightful perspectives on how companies are leveraging data and tech to transform the ad landscape. Fischer’s expertise in dissecting the strategies behind streaming wars, global expansion, and advertising innovation makes her a dynamic keynote speaker capable of illuminating the shifting contours of the digital economy. With her keen eye on the next big media move, she helps audiences understand what’s coming next in the rapidly changing world of tech and advertising. Fischer’s speaking engagements are managed exclusively by WWSG. To host her for your event, contact us.
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