Disney issues cease-and-desist to Google over AI use of its characters in major clash

Disney has escalated its fight over AI training data.

The company sent Google a cease-and-desist letter on Wednesday, accusing the tech giant of copying its copyrighted material “on a massive scale” to build and deploy AI systems.

The letter, reviewed by Variety, arrived shortly after Disney partnered with OpenAI for select content initiatives.

Attorneys from Jenner & Block alleged that Google copied large volumes of Disney’s works without permission.

They said Google then used that material to train and run its AI models, which create and distribute images of Disney characters.

“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,” the letter states.

The filing continues by accusing Google of using the outputs “to commercially exploit and distribute copies of its protected works.”

Disney argued that Google’s systems function like a digital replication engine.

“Google operates as a virtual vending machine, capable of reproducing, rendering, and distributing copies of Disney’s valuable library,” the letter says.

Attorneys added that some generated images appeared with a Gemini logo, which “falsely impl[ies] that Google’s exploitation of Disney’s intellectual property is authorized and endorsed by Disney.”

The company included examples from films such as Frozen, The Lion King, Moana, Toy Story, Inside Out, and Ratatouille, as well as franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars, The Simpsons, and Pixar.

Disney said many of these images came from prompts typed into Google’s consumer AI apps.

Disney escalates pressure

The move follows earlier cease-and-desist letters Disney sent to Meta and Character.AI.

The studio also joined NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery in filing lawsuits against Midjourney and Minimax over similar claims.

Disney leaders said they raised concerns with Google for months.

They argued that Google failed to act and allowed the scale of infringement to grow. CEO Bob Iger reinforced that stance in an interview with CNBC.

“We’ve been aggressive at protecting our IP,” he said. He noted that Disney had discussed the issue with Google, but “because we didn’t really make any progress… we felt we had no choice but to send them a cease-and-desist.”

Google responded by highlighting its history with Disney.

A spokesperson said, “We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them.”

The company defended its training approach, saying it uses “public data from the open web” and cited tools that give copyright holders more control.

Demands to halt AI outputs

Disney’s letter demands immediate changes.

The company told Google to stop generating and distributing any AI outputs that include Disney characters across Gemini products and platforms, including YouTube, YouTube Shorts, and Google’s mobile apps.

Disney also insisted that Google install “effective technological measures” to prevent future infringement.

The letter warned that the company “will not tolerate the unauthorized commercial exploitation of its copyrighted characters and works by so-called AI services.”

Disney further accused Google of encouraging viral AI trends.

It cited a post by CEO Sundar Pichai promoting “figurine” image creation.

According to Disney, Google even supplied a Gemini prompt that users could adapt to generate figurines of Disney characters.

The conflict now intensifies a broader industry fight over how AI models source and use copyrighted content.