Warner Bros. joins copyright infringement lawsuit against image-generating AI Midjourney



Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the studio behind films such as 'Superman,' 'Batman,' and 'Joker,' has also filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, an image-generating AI company that is being sued for allegedly using copyrighted characters to generate images and videos.

Warner Bros. Discovery Sues Midjourney for Infringement In Major Legal Battle

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/warner-bros-discovery-sues-ai-company-copyright-infringement-1236361610/

WB Sues Midjourney Over Turning Batman And Joker AI Slop
https://kotaku.com/wb-lawsuit-midjourney-ai-art-slop-batman-joker-disney-nbc-2000623232

WBD v. Midjourney Complaint & Ex. a FINAL (1) | PDF | Batman | Superman
https://www.scribd.com/document/911515490/WBD-v-Midjourney-Complaint-Ex-a-FINAL-1

In its complaint, WBD claims that Midjourney did nothing to prevent users from generating images and videos using copyrighted characters, including Superman, Wonder Woman, and Scooby-Doo. The lawsuit describes Midjourney's decision not to stop users from attempting to generate images and videos as a 'calculated, profit-driven decision.' The lawsuit also claims that Midjourney is 'fully aware of the alarming scale of piracy and copyright infringement.'

The complaint presents examples of cases in which Midjourney was used to generate near-perfect replicas of famous characters for which WBD holds the rights, and also reports that users on Midjourney's Discord server were sharing generated illustrations of R2-D2 from Star Wars and the animated series Rick and Morty.

One example. On the left is an image output by Midjourney, and on the right is an image of Superman that WBD owns the rights to.



Case number two, Batman.



Case 3: Batman from the movie 'The Dark Knight.'



Case number four: Bugs Bunny.



In June 2025, Disney and Universal filed a lawsuit against Midjourney for copyright infringement, harshly criticizing the company as a 'vending machine that endlessly generates unauthorized copies of copyrighted material' and a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism.'

Disney and Universal are suing Midjourney, calling it a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism' - GIGAZINE



WBD also accused Midjourney of 'brazenly offering up WBD's intellectual property as if it were its own.'

In response to Disney and others' lawsuit, Midjourney argued that using copyrighted content to train AI is 'fair use' and that 'copyright law does not grant absolute control over the use of copyrighted content.' It also criticized Disney's stance of using AI while suing AI companies as 'trying to win both benefits.'

in AI,   Web Service, Posted by logc_nt