"Unauthorized Generation of Images Using Popular Characters" Claimed
Warner Bros. Discovery, a U.S. media group (hereafter "Warner Bros."), has filed a lawsuit against the artificial intelligence (AI) startup Midjourney for intellectual property infringement.
According to Bloomberg on September 5 (local time), Warner Bros. filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles, claiming that Midjourney allowed users to generate unauthorized images and videos of its popular characters such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
Batman in a still cut from the movie 'The Dark Knight'
As evidence, Warner Bros. also submitted images allegedly generated by Midjourney's technology, including one of Superman looking at a mobile phone and another of Batman standing next to R2-D2, a character from the movie 'Star Wars'.
Warner Bros. argued that Midjourney does not have the right to use or sell reproductions of its characters and claimed that Midjourney used such images for promotional purposes. Bloomberg reported that Midjourney users uploaded these generated images to social media platforms such as Reddit, Discord, and Instagram. Warner Bros. is seeking up to $150,000 (about 200 million won) in damages for each copyright infringement. The company further asserted that Midjourney made profit-driven decisions by failing to protect copyright holders despite being aware of large-scale copyright violations. Midjourney has not yet commented on the lawsuit.
Disney and Comcast Previously Filed Similar Lawsuits
Meanwhile, U.S. media giant The Walt Disney Company and Comcast, which owns Universal Studios, also filed similar lawsuits against Midjourney in June. They allege that Midjourney infringed on the copyrights of characters from movies, animations, and TV programs such as Star Wars, The Simpsons, Shrek, and Minions. The two companies reportedly requested that Midjourney cease its copyright-infringing activities, but their requests were denied, leading them to seek $150,000 in damages for each infringement.
Midjourney, headquartered in San Francisco, is an AI image generation company. Like ChatGPT and Stability AI, it built its AI models using image datasets sourced from the internet. Users can generate images and videos using Midjourney's AI program. Technology companies argue that this method of building AI models falls under the "fair use" doctrine recognized as an exception by U.S. copyright law, but related lawsuits continue to be filed.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
