Disney Sends Cease-and-Desist to Google on AI Infringement

Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google on Wednesday, accusing the technology company of widespread copyright infringement through its artificial intelligence models and services. The letter, drafted by attorneys from the law firm Jenner & Block, claims Google has copied Disney's protected works without permission to train generative AI systems and has distributed infringing images and videos to consumers across multiple platforms.

In the letter, Disney alleges that Google's AI services, including video generation tool Veo, image creator Imagen, and model Nano Banana, have reproduced high-quality depictions of Disney characters from franchises such as Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Frozen, The Lion King, Moana, and The Little Mermaid. These reproductions occur in response to simple text prompts entered by users, generating outputs that violate Disney's copyrights. The company further contends that Google has integrated these AI tools into widely used products, such as the YouTube mobile app, YouTube Shorts, Google Workspace, and the Gemini virtual assistant on smartphones, reaching over a billion people and amplifying the infringement.

"Google is infringing Disney's...