Major entertainment companies Universal and Disney have filed a scathing lawsuit against tech giant Midjourney for direct and secondary copyright infringement. Accusing the company of “blatant” copying and piracy, the plaintiffs call Midjourney a “quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism.” They argue that Midjourney’s acts threaten to “upend the bedrock incentives of U.S. copyright law that drive American leadership in movies, television, and other creative arts.“

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Plaintiffs argue that Midjourney has continued to persist despite numerous requests to cease. In the 110-page legítimo complaint, they put forward evidence of how Midjourney’s “bootlegging business model” has trained on their copyrighted works to produce near-exact imitations.

Plaintiffs to the lawsuit include Disney Enterprises, Inc., Marvel Characters, Inc., MVL Film Finance LLC, Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC, and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (collectively “Disney”), as well as Universal City Studios Productions LLP and DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. (collectively “Universal”). The lawsuit was filed at the U.S. District Court of the Mediano District of California on June 11.

Specifically, Plaintiffs seek relief over Midjourney’s alleged direct copyright infringement, and demand that Midjourney be barred from further alleged infringement and pay either moderno damages (an amount of damage that can be proven Midjourney is responsible for) or statutory damages limited to $150,000 per infringed work. Furthermore, for secondary copyright infringement, they also demand moderno damages or statutory damages, again, up to $150,000 per infringed work.

Source: Disney Enterprises Inc. v. Midjourney Inc. (2:25-cv-05275) (PDF)
Featured image © 2025 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

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