Warner Bros. takes legal action against Midjourney for producing AI-generated depictions of Superman, Bugs Bunny, and additional characters.
News Article: Warner Bros. Sues AI Company Midjourney for Copyright Infringement
In a significant move, Warner Bros. has filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco-based AI company, Midjourney. The lawsuit alleges that Midjourney trained its AI system on "illegal copies" of Warner Bros. works, and enables its subscribers to create AI-generated images and videos of the studio's copyrighted characters.
The CEO of Midjourney, David Holz, compared the AI's use of copyrighted works to a person learning from someone else's picture and making a similar one. He argued that if it's allowed for people, it should be allowed for AI as well. However, Midjourney has not yet responded to the specific allegations in the Warner Bros. lawsuit.
Holz described his image-making service as "kind of like a search engine" that pulls in a wide swath of images from across the internet. The lawsuit states that even a generic prompt for the AI tool can generate high-quality images of DC Studios figures like Superman, Batman, and Flash. It also claims that Midjourney encourages its users to create downloaded images and videos of iconic characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, Scooby-Doo, or the Powerpuff Girls.
Warner Bros. is seeking up to $150,000 in damages per infringed work. The Motion Picture Association endorsed the lawsuit in a statement, expressing concern about copyright infringement threatening the entire American motion picture industry. MPA CEO Charles Rivkin stated that the industry supports over 2 million jobs in all 50 states and drives countless economic, social, and cultural benefits.
Midjourney's terms of use prohibit infringing intellectual property rights, and the onus is on its customers to follow these terms. Midjourney has denied copyright infringement allegations in the past, arguing that it trained its AI tool on publicly available images to learn visual concepts and how they correspond to language.
This is the third such lawsuit filed by a Hollywood studio against Midjourney, following Disney and Universal's joint lawsuit in June. In previous court rulings, courts have considered the issue of AI using copyrighted works and have resoundingly supported transformative fair use.
It's important to note that the person behind Midjourney is David Holz, who co-founded Leap Motion and leads the Midjourney team. There is no information indicating that Midjourney or David Holz was recently involved in a court case in Los Angeles.
Warner Bros. accuses Midjourney of thinking it is above the law and being able to stop the theft and exploitation of intellectual property. The lawsuit comes at a time when the use of AI in creative fields is rapidly evolving, and the question of how copyright laws apply to AI-generated content remains a topic of ongoing debate.
