Warner Bros sues Midjourney for alleged theft of characters in its AI image generator

Warner Bros has initiated legal action against the artificial intelligence startup Midjourney, alleging copyright infringement. According to reports, the company claims that the AI image generation platform allows users to create images and videos of characters such as Superman, Batman, and Bugs Bunny without express authorization.

Warner Bros claims that the company consciously engaged in improper conduct, stating that it previously had policies that restricted subscribers from generating content based on protected images, but recently lifted these prohibitions.

The company also mentioned that after lifting the restrictions, Midjourney claimed to have improved the service.

Warner Bros initiates legal action against Midjourney

In the lawsuit filed in a federal court in Los Angeles, Warner Bros also alleged that the theft allowed Midjourney to train its image and video service to offer subscribers high-quality downloadable images of its characters in any imaginable scene.

“Midjourney has made a calculated decision motivated by the benefit of not offering any protection to copyright owners, despite the fact that Midjourney is aware of the impressive scope of its piracy and rights infringement,” reads the lawsuit.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, the return of profits, and for Midjourney to stop new infringements.

This case arises after a similar lawsuit was filed in June against Midjourney by Walt Disney and Universal over characters like Darth Vader, Bart Simpson, Shrek, and Ariel from The Little Mermaid. “Midjourney is the quintessential copyright-free exploitative and a bottomless pit of plagiarism,” the studios said.

In the lawsuit filed in June, the companies claimed that Midjourney did not respond to repeated requests to stop using materials protected by copyright or to implement safeguards to eliminate infringements.

“We are optimistic about the promise of AI technology and how it can be used responsibly as a tool to enhance human creativity, but piracy is piracy, and the fact that it is carried out by an AI company does not make it any less infringing,” said Horacio Gutiérrez, executive vice president and general counsel of Disney.

Midjourney was also involved in a copyright lawsuit last year, when a federal judge in California allowed a group of ten artists to continue their infringement lawsuit against the company and others. The group alleged that Midjourney and others collected and stored copyrighted artworks without consent.

Launched in 2022, the San Francisco-based company, led by its founder David Holz, has accumulated nearly 21 million users as of September 2024 and over 300 million dollars in revenue during the same period.

Meanwhile, in a presentation on August 6 regarding the Universal and Disney case, the AI image generator stated that copyright law “does not confer absolute control” over the use of protected works. Its founder has also previously compared the service to a search engine, noting that it learns from existing images in the same way that humans study a painting to improve their technique.

Midjourney also stated that the works used to train generative AI models were employed under fair use, with the hope of ensuring the free flow of ideas and information. In recent years, there have been numerous lawsuits in which authors, news companies, record labels, and even content creators have accused AI companies of using their materials without permission.

“The core of what we do is develop stories and characters to entertain our audience, bringing to life the vision and passion of our creative partners,” said a spokesperson for Warner Bros Discovery. “We are filing this lawsuit to protect our content, our partners, and our investments.”

Warner Bros operations include Warner Bros Entertainment, DC Comics, The Cartoon Network, Turner Entertainment, and Hanna-Barbera.