Disney collaborates with OpenAI, Mickey Mouse, Pixar, and Marvel legally land on Sora.
Since the emergence of generative AI platforms, there have been continuous lawsuits with the large copyright content industry, but Disney, praised as the 'strongest legal team in the Western Hemisphere,' suddenly announced a partnership with OpenAI, creating a huge wave in the AI and content industry.
According to the agreement, Disney will invest 1 billion dollars in OpenAI for equity and sign a three-year licensing agreement, becoming the first major content licensing partner for OpenAI's video generation platform Sora.
Starting from early 2026, Sora users will be able to legally use over 200 classic characters from Disney to create AI short videos, covering characters from Disney animations (such as Mickey and Minnie), Pixar, Marvel, and the Star Wars series.
These videos generated by fans through AI may even have the opportunity to be launched on the streaming platform Disney+ in the future. However, to protect the rights of actors, the agreement explicitly excludes any rights to use the likeness or voice of real people.
Disney welcomes collaboration, while industry unions express concerns.
Disney CEO Bob Iger emphasized in an interview that the collaboration with OpenAI does not pose a threat to real creators; rather, due to the licensing fee mechanism, it reflects respect for creators.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised Disney as the gold standard in storytelling, and both parties committed to establishing safety measures to prevent the misuse of copyrighted material.
Source: Disney+ official website
However, the reactions within the content industry are mixed. The Hollywood union is taking a cautious approach, while the American Writers Guild (WGA) criticized the move as effectively approving OpenAI’s theft of works, and Animation Guild president Danny Lin expressed concerns about whether copyright revenues could be fairly and reasonably compensated to creators.
While embracing OpenAI, Disney continues to take legal action against unauthorized AI usage. The lawsuit against Midjourney is still ongoing, and recently Disney sent a cease-and-desist notice to Google, accusing its AI model Veo of copyright infringement, indicating that Disney is adopting a dual-track strategy of paid licensing or litigation in the AI field.
Further reading:
The strongest legal action in the Western Hemisphere! Disney and Universal sue Midjourney: blatant plagiarism.
The trend of legitimate generative AI is emerging, with record giants reconciling with Udio.
The alliance between Disney and OpenAI once again reflects the industry's shift towards 'legitimate generative AI.'
Prior to this, Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group (WMG) had respectively reached a settlement in copyright lawsuits with the AI music generation platform Udio.
Source: Universal Music press release Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group (WMG) have respectively reached a settlement in copyright lawsuits with the AI music generation platform Udio.
According to the agreement, Udio will transform into a legally licensed music creation service and plans to launch a new platform based on legitimate music data training in 2026, ensuring that artists and songwriters can earn revenue from it.
This shows that, whether in the film and television or music industry, copyright holders with large IPs are attempting to establish licensing frameworks to bring generative AI from a legal gray area into formal business models.
‘Disney signs a licensing agreement with OpenAI! Also invests $1 billion to buy equity, Mickey Mouse can legally land on Sora’ this article was first published in ‘Crypto City’.