"According to Axios, a law firm representing Disney wrote to Character.AI demanding that it cease using copyrighted characters without authorisation. "Character.ai chose to systematically reproduce, monetize, and exploit Disney's characters, that are protected by copyrights and trademarks, without any authorization, in a way that is anathema to the very essence of the Disney brand and legacy," the letter states. The company said Character.AI chatbots impersonated characters such as Moana, Princess Elsa from Frozen, Moana, Spider-Man alter ego Peter Parker and Darth Vader from Star Wars."
""Some of those characters are original creations, and some are inspired by existing characters that people love," it said. "It's like fan fiction, but in an interactive form." But fan fiction is crafted by fans themselves for no profit, not by an AI model trained on copyright material."
"In response, Character.AI said in a statement that it responds "swiftly to requests to remove content that rightsholders report to us." The company's defence for the Disney characters being there in the first place was pretty weak. Not all AI companies have been so willing to comply with demands from companies even as big as Disney. A joint lawsuit lodged by Disney and Universal against Midjourney has still to be heard."
Disney's legal team demanded that Character.AI cease using copyrighted characters without authorization, citing systematic reproduction, monetization, and exploitation of Disney's protected characters. Character.AI acknowledged removal requests and said it responds swiftly to rightsholder reports, while defending some chatbots as original or inspired creations and likening them to interactive fan fiction. The fan fiction comparison was criticized because AI models are trained on copyrighted material and can be monetized. Other AI companies have resisted similar claims, as shown by an ongoing Disney and Universal lawsuit against Midjourney. The response suggests some AI platforms fear legal exposure and will comply.
Read at Creative Bloq
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