not a lawyer, but what can they take if you don't gain?

maybe they could cite brand harm which might have monetary implications.

If you're using someone else's copyright, you're effectively stealing from them. It literally doesn't matter if you don't make money off it.

A quick search provided this link: https://www.kent.edu/it/civil-and-criminal-penalties-violati...

    Penalties for copyright infringement include civil and criminal penalties. In general, anyone found liable for civil copyright infringement may be ordered to pay either actual damages or "statutory" damages affixed at not less than $750 and not more than $30,000 per work infringed. For "willful" infringement, a court may award up to $150,000 per work infringed. A court can, in its discretion, also assess costs and attorneys' fees. For details, see Title 17, United States Code, Sections 504, 505.

    Willful copyright infringement can also result in criminal penalties, including imprisonment of up to five years and fines of up to $250,000 per offense.

Let's say you make a free animation with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. If (when) The Mouse's lawyers are really good, they'll claim that's 3 works that have been wilfully infringed on. That's 150k * 3.

Using a generated image that looks like some character is not in any way infringing on copyright.

> Copyright applies when you reuse the exact artwork someone else created.

For your own sake, talk to an IP lawyer before you rely on this belief.

Have you talked to an IP lawyer?

So you're claiming that if I draw a Mickey Mouse myself, I can do whatever I want with it. Disney's copyright doesn't apply?

You really need to look up what copyright is. It has the word "copy" in the name, but it doesn't mean what you think it means.

Yes, exactly. It's your own image. You might've based it on a trademark or another copyrighted work and that changes what you can do with your image and in what cases, but you own the copyright for the image you created.

They can stop you from infringing.

For peasants like us, it of course is out of the question. But for a 800B company (Meta) vs a 150B company (Disney), the conversation is very different.