Disney Files a Blockbuster Complaint Against Midjourney

In the world of entertainment, there’s a famous saying, purportedly repeated by Disney attorneys themselves: “Don’t mess with the mouse.” Only replace “mess” with a much less family-friendly word. (Note that this blogpost uses a public domain image of Mickey Mouse, just in case.)

On June 11, 2025, the mouse (Disney Enterprises), along with co-plaintiffs Marvel Characters, Lucasfilm, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Universal City Studios, and DreamWorks Animation, filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement against AI image  generator Midjourney, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Disney Enterprises, Inc., et al. v. Midjourney, Inc.; C.D. Cal. Case No. 2:25-cv-05275.

The 110-page complaint alleges that Midjourney engaged in massive direct and secondary copyright infringement by training its AI on the plaintiffs’ vast libraries of protected works and by generating and distributing unauthorized images of their most iconic characters.

The lawsuit describes Midjourney’s service as a “virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies of Disney’s and Universal’s copyrighted works.” The plaintiffs argue that Midjourney’s business model is built on profiting from their creative investments without permission:

"By helping itself to Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney’s and Universal’s famous characters—without investing a penny in their creation—Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism."

To support these claims, the complaint contains dozens of side-by-side examples comparing stills from the plaintiffs’ films with nearly identical images generated by Midjourney. The plaintiffs allege that simple text prompts can produce high-quality, infringing images of characters like Darth Vader, the Minions, Shrek, Elsa, and many others.

For example, a prompt for Disney's “Darth Vader” yields the following:

Most impressive …

Similarly, a prompt can generate images indistinguishable from Universal’s “Minions”:

Bello!

The complaint argues that Midjourney’s alleged infringement is “calculated and willful,” citing among other evidence, statements by Midjourney’s CEO that Midjourney “pulls off … all the images it can” and that Midjourney never sought copyright holders’ permission to exploit their works; and that Midjourney used software, servers, and other technology to store and fix data associated with the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, which are embodied in Midjourney’s model. Attached to the complaint are cease-and-desist letters from plaintiffs’ counsel to Midjourney, which, plaintiffs allege, were largely ignored. Instead of implementing technical measures to prevent the generation of their copyrighted characters, which, the complaint notes, Midjourney already uses to block other content like nudity or violence, Midjourney allegedly “doubled down on its unlawful actions” by releasing newer, more powerful versions of its AI model.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to stop Midjourney’s alleged infringement, damages including all profits Midjourney has made from its conduct or statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work, and attorneys’ fees.

The lawsuit is a significant step by the plaintiffs in policing their IP. In addition, the rulings in the case may create precedent for how the courts grapple with Copyright law in the context of the growing field of AI.