Disney warns Google to stop using its characters in AI images and videos

The Walt Disney Company recently announced a $1 billion licensing deal with OpenAI on December 11, 2025. This deal gives OpenAI access to over 200 Disney characters for AI-generated images and videos. Now, according to the Variety report, Disney has sent a cease-and-desist letter as a warning to stop using its characters immediately for image or video generation via Veo, Imagen, and Nano Banana. In simpler terms, it's accusing Google of copyright infringement.

The Variety reported that Disney’s lawyers have highlighted in the letter that Google is infringing Disney’s copyrights “on a massive scale.” This means Google’s Gemini is using vast characters from Disney franchises, including Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, and classic Disney characters, to create AI images and videos. In the letter, Disney also attached images of Gemini-generated AI figurines of Deadpool, Frozen’s Elsa, and others. Now, Disney and Google are having informal talks to get the issues fixed. However, Gemini continues to generate images from Disney Characters.

Variety quoted a Google spokesperson as saying, "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."

As of now, Disney’s cease-and-desist letter to Google does not include any legal action, but it simply demands that Google and other AI companies like Meta, Midjourney, and Character.AI from using copyrighted content. In contrast, Disney is willing to partner with AI firms like OpenAI for a paid licensing deal. Hence, it simply issues a warning to competitors who are using its content for free.