From Yahoo Finance: 2025-06-11 16:34:00

Disney and NBCUniversal filed a lawsuit against AI developer Midjourney for using their protected works without authorization, causing a legal battle between copyright holders and AI firms. The platform allegedly scraped images of popular characters like Darth Vader and Minions. The companies argue that piracy is piracy, regardless of the technology used.

Midjourney is facing legal challenges from Disney and artists for allegedly infringing on copyrighted works. The AI developer did not immediately respond to the allegations. The lawsuit highlights the ongoing battle between copyright holders and technology firms seeking to protect their intellectual property from unauthorized use.

Reddit filed a lawsuit against AI startup Anthropic, alleging the company scraped users’ personal data without consent to train its AI language model, Claude. Reddit claims Anthropic continued to access its servers despite blocking its bots. Anthropic denies the allegations and vows to defend itself vigorously.

Courts are grappling with the question of whether AI companies can use copyrighted material to train their models without permission. Recent legal battles, including a case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross, have highlighted the complexities of using copyrighted data for training purposes.

OpenAI and Microsoft are embroiled in a lawsuit with the New York Times over allegations of using the news outlet’s stories to train AI models without permission. The companies argue that the content falls under fair use, while the Times claims its publications are being replicated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Getty Images is challenging AI image generation startup Stability in lawsuits filed in the US and UK, arguing that fair use does not justify training on copyrighted material. The case mirrors Google’s defense in past copyright disputes over displaying snippets of copyrighted works in search results.

The legal battles between technology companies and copyright holders highlight the challenges of balancing innovation with intellectual property rights. These cases underscore the importance of clarifying the boundaries of fair use and protecting copyrighted works in the age of AI technology.

Read more: Hollywood enters AI scraping wars with new lawsuit from Disney and NBCUniversal