Warner Bros. Sues Midjourney Over AI-Generated Superman, Batman Images

Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against AI startup Midjourney, accusing the company of enabling its millions of subscribers to create unauthorized AI-generated images and videos featuring iconic characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Scooby-Doo, and Bugs Bunny. The lawsuit alleges that Midjourney trained its AI system on illegal copies of Warner Bros.' copyrighted works and deliberately disabled safeguards to allow infringing content, misleading users into believing the creations are authorized. Warner Bros. claims that even vague prompts like 'classic comic book superhero battle' produce outputs that clearly resemble its intellectual property, and it seeks damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work, along with an injunction against further unauthorized use. Midjourney has denied the allegations in a related case with Disney and Universal, arguing it trained its model on billions of publicly available images to learn visual concepts, asserting that its outputs are transformative rather than direct copies. This legal action follows earlier lawsuits by Disney and Universal targeting AI companies for similar intellectual property violations, marking a growing trend of entertainment studios challenging AI developers over copyright protections. Warner Bros. emphasizes that the lawsuit aims to protect its extensive creative investments and partnerships across its franchises including DC Comics and Hanna-Barbera.