Hollywood’s biggest players have finally drawn their legal sword against generative-AI, staking out a landmark battle that could redefine how every frame of film is trained, licensed and monetized in the age of machine creativity: Disney and NBCUniversal Sue Midjourney. This week, Disney and NBCUniversal filed a sweeping federal complaint in Los Angeles against Midjourney, the leading text-to-image platform (read the PDF document in full here). The suit alleges a two-step infringement scheme: first, scraping thousands of frames from studio films without permission; second, letting subscribers conjure near-photoreal images of Darth Vader, Elsa, Shrek, the Minions and other marquee characters. The studios call the service “a virtual vending machine” for bootleg IP and say the case is “not a close call” under U.S. copyright law. First thing I thought when I heard about this: What took them so long? Why hasn’t happened that much sooner? It’s the first time major Hollywood companies sue over this matter. “A bottomless pit of plagiarism“ Disney and Universal peg Midjourney’s 2024 subscription revenue at roughly $300 million, arguing that demand for branded, unlicensed imagery is the main growth engine. Exhibits show prompts such as “Darth Vader on a Paris runway” returning studio-quality renders, transforming infringement into a monthly SaaS product. Plagiarism proof from the lawsuit. Screenshot How Midjourney makes its money Four paid tiers – priced between $10 and $120 per month – grant users escalating amounts of GPU time. Even the entry-level “Basic” plan can churn out hundreds of images; higher tiers offer effectively unlimited generations in...
Published By: CineD - Friday, 13 June