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'Bottomless Pit of Plagiarism': Disney, Universal File the First Major Hollywood Lawsuit Against an AI Startup

Sherin Shibu

created: June 11, 2025, 8:59 p.m. | updated: June 12, 2025, 9:02 p.m.

Disney and Universal have brought the first major AI copyright lawsuit in Hollywood against AI image-generating startup Midjourney. Disney and Universal included multiple examples in the complaint of AI-generated images from Midjourney featuring characters from "Cars," "Shrek," and other movies. "Midjourney is the quintessential copyright-free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," Disney and Universal allege. While Disney and Universal's lawsuit against Midjourney represents the first major Hollywood lawsuit against an AI startup, another groundbreaking AI case was filed last week. Reddit became the first major tech company to sue an AI startup, alleging in the complaint that the $61.5 billion startup Anthropic used the site for training data without permission.

4 months, 4 weeks ago: Entrepreneur