Disney Demands Google Stop Alleged Massive Copyright Infringement – Sends a Cease-and-Desist
Disney is taking legal action against Google, accusing the tech giant of using its AI tools to copy and distribute Disney content without permission.
According to Variety, Disney’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google on Wednesday, demanding that the company stop what it calls “massive” copyright infringement.
“Google is infringing Disney’s copyrights on a massive scale, by copying a large corpus of Disney’s copyrighted works without authorization to train and develop generative artificial intelligence (‘AI’) models and services, and by using AI models and services to commercially exploit and distribute copies of its protected works to consumers in violation of Disney’s copyrights,” the letter reads. It was sent by law firm Jenner & Block to Google’s general counsel on behalf of Disney.
The letter claims that Google’s AI systems and apps have generated images of Disney characters, including figures from Frozen, The Lion King, Moana, The Little Mermaid, Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Star Wars. Disney included examples of images it says were made using Google’s AI tools, such as images of Darth Vader.
Disney is asking Google to “immediately cease further copying, publicly displaying, publicly performing, distributing, and creating derivative works of Disney’s copyrighted characters” across its AI services, including YouTube, YouTube Shorts, and other products that use AI technology. The letter also demands that Google put “effective technological measures” in place to prevent future copyright violations.
“Disney will not tolerate the unauthorized commercial exploitation of its copyrighted characters and works by so-called AI services,” the letter says.
“Here, Google’s conduct is particularly harmful because Google is leveraging its market dominance across multiple channels to distribute its AI Services and using the draw and popularity of infringed copyrighted works to help maintain that dominance.”
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