Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google on Wednesday, alleging that the tech giant has infringed on its copyrights. Disney is accusing Google of copyright infringement on a massive scale, claiming it has used AI models and services to commercially distribute unauthorized images and videos.
According to the letter, Google operates as a virtual vending machine, capable of reproducing, rendering, and distributing copies of Disney’s valuable library of copyrighted characters and other works on a mass scale. The letter further states that compounding Google’s blatant infringement, many of the infringing images generated by Google’s AI services are branded with Google’s Gemini logo. Disney claims this falsely implies that Google’s exploitation of Disney’s intellectual property is authorized and endorsed by Disney.
The letter alleges that Google’s AI systems infringe characters from “Frozen,” “The Lion King,” “Moana,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Deadpool,” and more. Google did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
This legal move comes the same day that Disney signed a separate one billion dollar, three-year deal with OpenAI. That agreement will bring Disney’s iconic characters to OpenAI’s Sora AI video generator.