Disney and Universal Sue Midjourney for Copyright Infringement
Disney and Universal filed a lawsuit against Midjourney on June 11, 2025, alleging the AI image-generation company infringed their copyrights by allowing users to create near-exact replicas of their characters, including Homer Simpson, Minions, and Elsa. The studios claim Midjourney ignored their prior concerns and continued the practice to protect its business interests.
What happened
Disney and Universal sued Midjourney on June 11, 2025, in Los Angeles, claiming the AI company infringed their copyrights by allowing users to create near-exact copies of their characters including Homer Simpson, The Minions, and Elsa from Frozen.
The studios said they approached Midjourney about copyright concerns before filing suit, but Midjourney ignored them and remained focused on its business interests.
Reported impact
Disney and Universal claim the infringement occurred countless times and characterize Midjourney as a copyright free-rider and bottomless pit of plagiarism.
Index analysis
Midjourney offers a text-to-image tool that generates AI pictures based on text prompts and was founded in 2021. The company had more than $300 million in sales last year via paid subscriptions.
Governance controls
Disney legal executive Horacio Gutierrez stated the company is bullish on AI technology but that piracy done by an AI company is no less infringing. Kim Harris, NBCUniversal's legal director, said the action aims to protect artists' work and the studios' substantial investment in original content.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.