Disney holds the intellectual property rights to some of the most recognizable characters and franchises around. We’re talking about Mickey Mouse, Toy Story, Star Wars, and Marvel, just to name a few. So, it’s not surprising that these franchises have been used extensively in AI image generation. However, Disney isn’t too thrilled by this and has hit Google with a copyright infringement cease-and-desist letter . The company claims Google has infringed upon its intellectual property on a “massive scale.” They also said Google used its AI models and services to “commercially exploit and distribute” images and videos.
How Google allegedly infringed on Disney’s copyright
On December 10, 2025, Disney sent Google a cease-and-desist letter accusing its AI services of copyright infringement. According to Disney, Google’s AI tools generate unauthorized images of Disney characters from Frozen, Star Wars, and Deadpool when prompted. These tools allegedly use Disney’s works without permission to train AI models and create infringing content.
The letter Disney’s lawyers sent to Google reads, “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, and by using AI models and services to commercially exploit and distribute copies of its protected works to consumers in violation of Disney’s copyrights.”
Disney claims it warned Google about these issues previously, but the company ignored those warnings. The cease-and-desist letter demands that Google immediately halt copying, displaying, or distributing such content. Interestingly, no full lawsuit has been filed yet.
When asked for a comment, a Google spokesperson said , “We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them. More generally, we use public data from the open web to build our AI and have built additional innovative copyright controls like Google-extended and Content ID for YouTube, which give sites and copyright holders control over their content.”
Disney’s selective AI partnership strategy
The timing of this legal action is particularly interesting. Just days before sending the cease-and-desist letter, Disney announced a $1 billion partnership with OpenAI . This deal licenses Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Darth Vader for use in Sora AI videos starting early 2026. This means that Disney is fine with AI companies using its IP, but only if they’re willing to pay for it.
This is also not the first time Google and other AI companies have been accused of copyright infringement. Many publishers, photographers, and musicians have sued these companies for using their content for AI training or generation purposes without permission or compensation.
