Studio Ghibli sends warning letter to creator of AI filter app replicating its style

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team conducted a visual analysis of the letter and looked for credible news articles on the alleged letter.

Posts from several users on X on March 27, 2025, shared a cease and desist letter from Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli calling out the creator of an AI app for the unauthorised use of its intellectual property. However, the letter is fake.

Studio Ghibli has been critically lauded since 1985, with the release of its debut feature Laputa: Castle in the Sky. The studio later gained international reverence following the releases of Princess Mononoke (1997) and, more significantly, Spirited Away (2001), which won the Academy Award for best animated feature.

The Internet has recently been flooded with Studio-Ghibli-inspired images after Open AI introduced a new image generator, powered by GPT-40. Simultaneously, the trend sparked resentment among the artist community that shared old clips of the studio’s co-creator Hayao Miyazaki where he can be seen strongly condemning the incorporation of technology in art.

HOW IT STARTED

On March 27, an X user named Teej shared a picture of a document with a letterhead of Studio Ghibli, Inc, claiming that after he introduced his new mobile application which could turn images into Ghibli-inspired art, the company sent him a cease and desist letter.

The caption of his post said, “Just got this cease and desist from Studio Ghibli. AI creators deserve protection, not punishment. Expression is sacred. Imagination is not illegal. If I have to be a martyr to prove that, so be it. I’m assembling a legal team. Firms who believe in this fight, reach out.”

The post received 5.1 million views and was shared 2,000 times.

The text of the alleged document is reproduced below:

“Re: Unauthorised sse of Studio Ghibli intellectual property-cease and desist

Dear Gib Studio LLC

We are legal representatives of Studio Ghibli, Inc. (“Studio Ghibli), the world-renowned animation studio responsible for original motion pictures such as Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and others. Studio Ghibli is the exclusive owner of all associated intellectual property rights, including visual style, character likenesses, thematic elements, and trademarks.

It has come our attention that your company has developed and publicly launched an application under the name “Gib’, described as “a photo sharing app that turns all photos into Studio Ghibli style images”. This product appears to heavily borrow from Studio Ghibli’s artistic style, branding cues, and thematic presentation, references studio by name in marketing and promotional materials.

Please be advised that this constitutes unauthorised use and misappropriation of Studio Ghibli’s copyrighted works, trade dress, and brand name, and it is likely to cause confusion among consumers regarding endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation-none of which exist.

Accordingly, we demand that you:

1. Immediately cease and desist all use of the Studio Ghibli name, references to its style, characters, films in all promotional, descriptive, or functional aspects of your app or business;

2. Terminate the availability and distribution of the app “Gib’ in all platforms, including but not
   limited to the Apple App Store, Google Play, and any third-party marketplaces

3. Remove or take down all marketing materials, websites, social media content that reference Studio Ghibli or utilise similar visual elements;

4. Provide us with written assurance within seven days of the date of this letter confirming your compliance with above demands.

Failure to comply will leave choice but to pursue legal remedies, including seeking injunctive relief, statutory and actual damages, and attorneys’ fees, without further notice.

This letter is not intended to be a complete statement of Studio Ghibli’s rights, all of which are expressly reserved.”

The letter was further shared by other X users who supported the letter and continued to call out AI-generated art here, here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality, the popularity of the AI filter, keen public interest and concerns about AI-generated art threatening the value of real artists.

Analysing the document through AI-detection software Hive Moderation showed that it was “not likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content”.

The document mentioned the name of a firm called Sakura & Hoshino LLP which did not yield any website or details about the entity through a keyword search.

Moreover, attempting to send an email to the address of legal@sakura-hoshino.com let to Gmail notifying that “the address could not be found.”

Furthermore, the contact number mentioned in the letter began the code number of +1 which is the country code for the United States and Canada when the code number for Japan is +81 and Studio Ghibli has its headquarters in Koganei, Tokyo.

A keyword search of “Studio Ghibli letter” yielded a news article from Japanese media outlet NHK WORLD-JAPAN which reported on a direct statement it received from Studio Ghibli about the alleged letter.

“We have not issued a warning letter,” the report quoted the studio as saying, leading the outlet to conclude the following: “It was revealed that the post was a fake letter.”

Moreover, posts that had shared the alleged letter were later tagged with a community note calling the document a fake.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim regarding a viral cease and desist letter from Studio Ghibli to an app creator for replicating its style through an AI filter application is false.

The letter is fake and Studio Ghibli denied sending any such letter to the artist.

Evidence and References

Studio Ghibli’s statement on alleged letter:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20250328/k10014763911000.html