Warner Bros Discovery joins the list of companies suing Midjourney AI

Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a lawsuit against Midjourney AI for copyright infringement, joining similar suits from Disney and Universal.

Warner Bros Discovery joins the list of companies suing Midjourney AI
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TL;DR: Warner Bros. Discovery has joined Disney and Universal in suing AI company Midjourney for copyright infringement, accusing it of exploiting iconic characters like Superman and Batman without permission. The lawsuit highlights Midjourney's removal of copyright protections and alleges deliberate, profit-driven intellectual property violations.

A few months ago, we reported on two of the biggest entertainment studios in Hollywood, Disney and Universal, suing the AI company Midjourney for copyright infringement. The lawsuit didn't pull any punches, with the entertainment giants calling Midjourney and its AI-powered image and animation generation tools a "copyright free-rider" and "a bottomless pit of plagiarism."

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We can now add Warner Bros. Discovery to the list of entertainment companies suing Midjourney for copyright infringement. "Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Bugs Bunny, and Scooby-Doo," the complaint reads. "These are some of the most popular and valuable fictional characters ever created, and they (and many other characters) are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery," it continues, adding that only Warner Bros. Discovery has the right to create content and build a business around copyrighted characters.

The complaint is similarly strongly worded as previous lawsuits filed against Midjourney, stating that "Midjourney thinks it is above the law" and that the company could "easily stop its theft and exploitation" of its intellectual property.

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The images you see in this article were generated using Midjourney's popular and powerful AI image generation platform. There are also several examples of Warner Bros. related images that you can find over on the Midjourney subreddit, with the complaint including a couple of examples, including the following 'Superman's bored' example.

Interestingly, the suit claims that at one point, Midjourney had "technology protection measures" for copyrighted content but chose to remove them. It alleges "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."

It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. Maybe one day, firing up Midjourney and writing "Batman running down the beach like he's on the TV show Baywatch" will no longer do its thing.

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