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AI photo generation company Midjourney is facing a lawsuit from Warner Bros Discovery, which has alleged that the company stole some of its iconic characters so that they could be generated by the AI.
Midjourney is an AI image generator based in San Francisco. It was founded in 2022 by David Holz, and in September 2024, it reached almost 21 million users and an estimated revenue of US$300 million.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles federal court, said that Midjourney’s theft of iconic characters such as Bugs Bunny, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Scooby Doo, and more was used to train the AI, allowing subscribers to create high-quality and downloadable images of them in “every imaginable scene”.
While Midjourney originally blocked the creation of copyrighted material, the company changed this last month to allow users to create images of copyrighted characters and material.
Warner Bros said that the fact that Midjourney originally prohibited the generation of copyrighted material demonstrates that the company knew that what it was doing was wrong.
“Midjourney has made a calculated and profit-driven decision to offer zero protection for copyright owners even though Midjourney knows about the breathtaking scope of its piracy and copyright infringement,” the lawsuit said.
Warner Bros is requesting that Midjourney halt the generation of its copyrighted characters and pay a disgorgement of profits and unspecified damages.
“The heart of what we do is develop stories and characters to entertain our audiences, bringing to life the vision and passion of our creative partners,” a Warner Bros Discovery spokesperson said.
“We filed this suit to protect our content, our partners and our investments.”
Midjourney also faced a lawsuit by Disney and Universal Studios for the theft of iconic characters, including Shrek, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Bart Simpson, and Darth Vader.
During this lawsuit, Midjourney said that copyright law “does not confer absolute control” over how copyright material is used. It also claimed that training its AI on the copyrighted material was considered fair use. The company has not commented on the Warner Bros lawsuit.
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