Warner Bros. Discovery has launched a federal copyright infringement lawsuit against AI startup Midjourney. The legal action, filed this week, alleges that the platform enables users to generate unauthorized visual content featuring iconic intellectual properties, including Superman, Batman, and Bugs Bunny.
The Allegations Against Midjourney
According to the official complaint, as first reported by Reuters, Warner Bros. asserts that Midjourney is knowingly facilitating piracy. The studio points to a specific shift in the AI company’s policy: while Midjourney previously implemented safeguards to block the generation of infringing character images, those protections were recently removed.
“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 legal filing states.
Demands and Legal Precedent
Warner Bros. is seeking significant legal remedies, including unspecified monetary damages and the disgorgement of profits directly linked to the alleged infringement. Furthermore, the studio is pursuing a permanent injunction to force the platform to cease the unauthorized use of its characters.
A Growing Wave of AI Litigation
This lawsuit is part of an intensifying battle between major entertainment studios and generative AI developers. In June, a coalition including Walt Disney and Universal filed a similar suit against Midjourney, citing the unauthorized use of characters such as Darth Vader, Bart Simpson, and Shrek.
In response to these industry-wide challenges, Midjourney has consistently maintained that utilizing copyrighted works to train generative AI models falls under the “fair use” doctrine of U.S. copyright law. To date, Midjourney has not issued a formal statement regarding the specific claims made by Warner Bros.