Warner Bros. Discovery Sues Midjourney Over Copyrighted Characters

Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a lawsuit against AI image generator Midjourney, alleging the company trained its models on copyrighted works and now allows users to produce images and video stills of WB characters — including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Scooby-Doo, Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters.

Key points

• WB alleges Midjourney first blocked some generation of its properties when it launched video features but recently removed those protections, leading to more user-generated outputs depicting WB characters.
• The studio claims Midjourney’s commercial subscriptions profit from these outputs and that the company acted willfully, seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work.
• Warner Bros. Discovery included side-by-side comparisons of Midjourney outputs and actual promotional materials in the complaint.
• Midjourney is also facing a separate lawsuit from Disney and Universal Studios over similar copyright concerns.

Context & links

For more coverage, see the detailed report by CNET: CNET — Midjourney faces copyright lawsuit

Additional reporting: Los Angeles Times — Warner Bros. Discovery sues Midjourney

Questions to consider

How should AI companies handle copyrighted characters? Are industry-wide licensing standards needed? Share your thoughts below.

Sources: CNET, Los Angeles Times