Warner Bros. Sues Midjourney For Ai Images Of Superman, Batman, And Other Characters

In Brief

Warner Bros. is suing AI startup Midjourney for copyright infringement, alleging that nan institution allows users to make images and videos of characters for illustration Superman, Batman, and Bugs Bunny without permission.

As first reported by Reuters, Warner Bros says that Midjourney knowingly engaged successful wrongful conduct, noting that nan institution antecedently restricted subscribers from generating contented based connected infringing images, but precocious lifted those protections.

“Midjourney has made a calculated and profit-driven determination to connection zero protection for copyright owners moreover though Midjourney knows astir nan breathtaking scope of its piracy and copyright infringement,” nan title reads.

The suit seeks unspecified damages, nan return of immoderate profits earned from nan alleged infringement, and a halt to further violations.

Warner Bros’ suit follows a akin 1 revenge successful June by Walt Disney and Universal against Midjourney for copyright infringement involving characters specified arsenic Darth Vader, Bart Simpson, Shrek, and others. In this case, Midjourney has based on that utilizing those useful to train generative AI models is ineligible nether nan adjacent usage doctrine of U.S. copyright law.

Midjourney did not respond to TechCrunch’s petition for comment.

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