Tag Archives: artificial intelligence

Disney to Invest $1 Billion in OpenAI Allowing the Licensed Use of its Characters

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Mickey Mouse

Disney has partnered with OpenAI and invested $1 billion in the Sam Altman-run artificial intelligence company. With the deal, Disney is also licensing the use of its characters in AI video creation platform Sora. Users will now be able to “legally” use Disney’s characters from Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars.

The “shortform video creation” will be allowed on Disney+ as part of “fan-inspired Sora short form videos.” The licensed character product launches on Sora and ChatGPT in early 2026. Expect the slop to overrun everywhere even more soon after.

The three-year deal is a 180 with how the company is dealing with Midjourney, another artificial intelligence company. In June, Disney and Universal launched a lawsuit against Midjourney calling it a “bottomless pit of plagiarism.” Warner Bros. launched their own lawsuit and the two cases were consolidated in November. One wonders if there were negotiations between Disney and Midjourney that didn’t pan out which lead to the lawsuit.

Disney recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google, alleging Google’s AI platforms have resulted in copyright infringement on a “massive scale.”

The move by Disney is another attempt to reach out to people “where they’re at,” following a $1.5 billion equity investment into Epic Games which brings Disney characters into Fortnite in a multiyear effort.

It’s also a major shift from Disney who is notoriously litigious in protecting its intellectual property. In one infamous case, Disney threated to sue a daycare center over murals that featured the likeness of their characters. Universal Studios and Hanna-Barbera stepped up to allow the use of their characters to prevent the legal action.

Unions were quick to condemn the deal saying it “sanctioned” the “theft of (their) work.”

The Writers Guild of America stated:

Disney’s announcement with OpenAI appears to sanction its theft of our work and cedes the value of what we create to a tech company that has built its business off our backs.

And they’ll meet with Disney:

..to probe the terms of this deal, including the extent to which user-generated videos use the work of WGA members. We will continue to fight to protect our members’ creative and economic interests in the context of AI technology.

In a message to its members, the WGA has said:

Companies including OpenAI have stolen vast libraries of works owned by the studios and created by WGA members and Hollywood labor to train their artificial intelligence systems. We have repeatedly called for the studios to take legal action to defend the valuable intellectual property we help to create.

SAG-AFTRA said:

SAG-AFTRA will closely monitor the deal and its implementation to ensure compliance with our contracts and with applicable laws protecting image, voice and likeness,” the union said. “SAG-AFTRA members are very focused on the rapidly expanding use of intellectual property and individuals’ likenesses and voices by generative AI tools, and SAG-AFTRA remains vigilant about any such uses.

We acknowledge Disney’s and OpenAI’s independent outreaches to us on this matter and their assurances that they will meet their contractual and legal obligations to performers and continue to implement systems to ensure ethical and responsible use of this technology.

SAG-AFTRA has engaged in months of discussions with OpenAI about how to protect performers.

Anthropic Case Attorneys Request $302 million in Fees and Expenses

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Anthropic

We’ve previously covered the Anthropic class action case. The lawsuit was over the artificial intelligence platform Anthropic’s use of copywritten material. The settlement includes $1.5 billion, about $3,000 for each instance of use. If an author has 3 books that were used by Anthropic, they’d receive $9,000 as an example. The plaintiff’s lawyers have asked a federal judge for $300 million in attorney fees plus expenses of about $1.97 million and $17 million reserve fund for future expenses. That’s around 20% of the settlement. There’s also a request of $50,000 for each of the three named plaintiffs in the case.

The motion was filed and they attorneys claim their 20% is “markedly below” the 25% benchmark usually given. Class counsel from Susman Godfrey and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP would split 75% of the fees award.

The lawyers state they’ve spent more than 18,000 hours on the case which comes out to about $16,700 an hour.

Court Suggests Disney v. Midjourney Go to Mediation

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In June, Disney and Universal launched a lawsuit against the AI platform, Midjourney. In their filing, they called it a “bottomless pit of plagiarism” that generates “endless unauthorized copies.” In September, Warner Bros. Discovery, along with its various divisions, also sued Midjourney accusing it of producing, displaying, and distributing “unauthorized derivatives” of its intellectual property including Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo, and more. Those two separate lawsuits were combined in the beginning of November. Now, the judge has asked for the parties involved to mediate their dispute.

A request for mediation before a trial begins isn’t uncommon, as it can prevent a long, dragged out, and costly lawsuit by various parties. With the initial timelines proposed, this one would have gone into 2027. There’s also a possibility a settlement was close and didn’t need a long trial. This is a huge case with a lot riding on it, so the move is a little surprising.

This case is referred to private mediation. Counsel are directed to contact the private mediator of their choice to arrange a date and time for the mediation.

It asks for the mediation proceeding to be completed by August 19, 2026 with a notice of settlement or joint report by August 21, 2026 and then a status conference set for August 31, 2026.

ClaimsHero Holdings Criticized by Judge for Encouraging Authors Opt-Out of Anthropic Settlement

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Anthropic

Arizona law firm ClaimsHero Holdings LLC was criticized by a judge for encouraging authors to opt-out of the $1.5 billion settlement by Anthropic. The settlement is an attempt to resolve copyright infringement claims. In September, U.S. District Judge William Alsup called the class-action settlement “fair” during a hearing setting the stage for notification of authors impacted and allowing them to file claims. Anthropic is accused of using millions of pirated of books to teach its AI assistant Claude to respond to prompts.

ClaimsHero Holdings calls itself a “consumer justice platform dedicated to helping individuals seek justice for various consumer harms.” On their page concerning Anthropic’s settlement, it states:

Anthropic has received preliminary court approval of a settlement to resolve claims that it illegally downloaded millions of pirated books from online datasets. That settlement provides for just $3,000 per copyright claimant. But the law provides for up to $150,000. Unless you take action, authors and rightsholders will be automatically included in that settlement. If you opt out of that settlement, you may be entitled to more compensation. Let us opt you out, represent you, and fight for more!

During a recent court proceeding, the judge criticized the firm accusing them of attempting to deceive individuals for a “quick buck,” scrutinizing their actions and raising concerns about the firm’s motives and practices.

Register of Copyrights informed of Warner Bros. Consolidated Action with Disney and Universal against Midjourney

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In September, Warner Bros. Discovery filed a lawsuit against Midjourney. In it, they claim the tech company “brazenly dispenses its intellectual property as if it were its own.” Warner Bros. Discovery is accusing Midjourney of producing, displaying, and distributing “unauthorized derivatives” of its intellectual property including Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo, and more. Warner Bros. Discovery further claims Midjourney is aware of its “breathtaking scope of its piracy and copyright infringement.”

Now, as part of the court proceedings, the Register of Copyright has been informed that the action which was filed on September 4 by Warner Bros. Discovery is now consolidated with the similar case filed by Disney and Universal in June 2025.

In short, they’ve given the Register of Copyrights that the case which was two, is now 1, and the Disney earlier-filed case is the Lead Case with any following filings being only under the lead case.

Not the sexiest or most exciting of filings but important for those paying attention and needing to keep up with what’s going on.

Warner Bros. Discovery Supports Disney and Universal’s actions their Lawsuit against Midjourney

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Last week, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Universal started the court filings to combine their lawsuits against Midjourney, the AI platform. The companies are suing Midjourney for infringement and plagiarism. Disney and Universal filed a lawsuit together in June and then Warner Bros. Discovery filed their own lawsuit in September.

After the initial filing by Disney to combine the cases and form like Voltron, Warner Bros. Discovery has submitted their own statement in support of it and what Disney and Universal have done so far in their case. In October Midjourney responded to the lawsuit in court and the discovery plan was submitted.

While it’s not the sexiest of news, it is a step in what will be a lawsuit that will drag on for a year or two.

Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. Consolidate their Cases Against Midjourney

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In June, Disney and Universal launched a lawsuit against the AI platform, Midjourney. In their filing, they called it a “bottomless pit of plagiarism” that generates “endless unauthorized copies.” In September, Warner Bros. Discovery, along with its various divisions, also sued Midjourney accusing it of producing, displaying, and distributing “unauthorized derivatives” of its intellectual property including Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo, and more. Now, Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery have formed a supergroup consolidating their cases.

None of this is surprising, the two court cases are very similar not just in their claims but their arguments as well.

In the filing it says:

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits a court to consolidate actions pending before it if those actions involve a “common question of law or fact” and a court may consider several factors that would affect the litigation including the burden on parties, witnesses, judicial resources, the risk of inconsistent adjudications, the potential for prejudice, and the risk of delaying trial”

the Disney/Universal Action and the Warner Bros. Discovery Action involve similar facts and circumstances, share similar causes of action, would require the Court to make similar determinations of law and fact, and as such, satisfy the requirement for consolidation under Rule 42(a)

In short, there’s a lot of overlap and things might get delayed and be hard to juggle since it’s the same defendant and the similar cases. So, to increase efficiency and decrease duplicating work, procedures, and avoiding “inconsistent adjudications,” they’re asking to combine the cases.

There’s some details that need to work out, like discovery.

Check out the joint stipulation below.

Anthropic’s $1.5 billion Copyright Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval

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Anthropic

The $1.5 billion settlement by Anthropic over the use of the works of authors to train AI is back on the table. In early September, the record setting agreement was announced by Anthropic and lawyers representing authors but that agreement was rejected by the judge for the case due to multiple concerns.

Now, U.S. District Judge William Alsup has called the class-action settlement “fair” during a hearing that took place on Thursday.

The next step is to notify the affected authors and give them a chance to file claims.

Anthropic is accused of using millions of pirated of books to teach its AI assistant Claude to respond to prompts.

The case has been interesting as Anthropic had been cleared from some of its wrongdoing with the judge ruling that training their model on purchased work was “exceedingly transformative.” Where Anthropic ran into issues was its use of pirated material in that training. About 7 million pirated books were saved to a “central library.”

As reported earlier, the settlement would cover anything done before a certain date but any new infractions after could lead to further lawsuits. Anthropic would also destroy the datasets used in its models. The settlement would amount to about $3,000 per class work.

A trial was set to begin in December over the piracy. Potential damages would have been in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

Judge Recuses Himself in Warner Bros. vs. Midjourney

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In September, Warner Bros. Discovery along with Hanna-Barbera Productions, Turner Entertainment, DC Comics, and The Cartoon Network sued AI startup Midjourney claiming the tech company “brazenly dispenses its intellectual property as if it were its own.” The filing was submitted September 4. The case was assigned to District Judge Percy Anderson and Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick. Now, one of those judges, Percy Anderson, has recused himself from the case.

The reason in the document is listed as 28 U.S.C. section 455 which is basically a bunch of conflicts like impartiality, personal bias, a financial interest, some connection to the case, and many more.

The case has been reassigned to Judge John A. Kronstadt.

Judge rejects the $1.5 billion Anthropic AI Settlement with Authors Due to Lack of Details

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Anthropic

It was a record setting settlement by Anthropic to authors and it has been rejected by Judge William Alsup with much more to be done. The federal judge has concerns with a $1.5 billion settlement deal and it’ll be forced “down the throat of authors.”

The judge reportedly felt misled by the deal and that it was “nowhere close to complete.” The judge said he was disappointed that counsel have left important questions to be answered in the future.” Questions include some key ones like the list of works involved in the case, the list of authors, the process of notifying members of the class and the claim form members can use to get their settlement payment.

Anthropic was sued for using the works of authors to train its AI model. In the case, U.S. District Judge William Aslup ruled that Anthropic’s use of the books in training models was “exceedingly transformative,” a factor to determine if the use was under legal “fair use.” It was a major decision, the first concerning the issue. But, there was still a question of Anthropic pirating books from the internet to train its models, which would still need to settled in a trial.

In short, they were covered with what they purchased but there was all of the other stuff they pirated that was left to be decided if that was legal or not.

Anthropic in the settlement would have paid $1.5 billion and destroyed datasets used in its models.

About 500,000 authors were involved and they’d have received about $3,000 per work.

The lawyers need to give the class members “very good notice” about the settlement as well as design as claim form where those authors can opt in or out. Anthropic also can’t be sued for the same issue in the future as part of all of this.

The lawyers have until September 15 to submit a final list of works involved in the lawsuit. A class members list and claims form need to be examined and approved by the court by October 10.

After all of that, the court might grant preliminary approval.

(via Bloomberg Law)

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