Warner Bros Files Copyright Lawsuit Against Midjourney AI

Warner Bros. has filed a lawsuit against the AI company Midjourney, accusing it of copyright infringement by enabling users to generate images and videos of iconic characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Scooby-Doo, and Bugs Bunny without authorization. The suit alleges that Midjourney trained its AI on illegal copies of Warner Bros. content and deliberately removed safeguards that previously prevented such infringements, allowing widespread unauthorized use of its intellectual property. Warner Bros. claims Midjourney's actions cause consumer confusion by misleading subscribers into believing the unauthorized reproductions are lawful and seeks up to $150,000 in damages per infringed work, as well as an injunction to stop further violations. This lawsuit follows similar legal actions by Disney and Universal against Midjourney, which faces multiple accusations of profiting from unauthorized AI-generated depictions of copyrighted characters. Midjourney has denied these allegations, arguing that training AI on publicly available images to learn visual concepts is lawful under fair use. The case highlights ongoing legal challenges at the intersection of artificial intelligence and copyright law, with potentially significant implications for the use of generative AI in creative industries.