Warner Bros. Discovery filed a lawsuit against Gen AI company Midjourney this week, claiming that the company violated the studio’s copyright.
The studio accused Midjourney of operating a subscription-based generative AI service that allows subscribers to create generative AI video using illegal copies of Warner Bros. Discovery copyrighted works without its permission. Warner Bros. Discovery is seeking damages of up to $150,000 “per infringed work.”
“Midjourney thinks it is above the law.” the studio said in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Count Central District of California. “The Service lets subscribers pick iconic Warner Bros. Discovery copyrighted characters and then reproduces, publicly displays and performs, and makes available for download (i.e., distributes) infringing images and videos, and unauthorized derivatives, with every imaginable scene featuring those characters. Without any consent or authorization by Warner Bros. Discovery, Midjourney brazenly dispenses Warner Bros. Discovery’s intellectual property as if it were its own.”
The studio added that Midjourney “could easily stop its theft and exploitation of Warner Bros. Discovery’s intellectual property” and that it “controls the outputs of its image and video Service, and it has the means to implement protection measures to prevent the ongoing reproduction, public display, public performance, and distribution of Warner Bros. Discovery’s works. Midjourney already possesses the technological means and measures that could prevent its distribution, public display, and public performance of infringing images and videos.”
Warner Bros. Discovery said that 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.”
Recent actions by Midjourney have led the studio to believe that Midjourney knows what it’s doing is illegal, the studio added.
“Midjourney’s recent conduct shows it has actual knowledge that the Service infringes Warner Bros. Discovery’s copyrighted characters and the ability to stop the infringement,” the studio said in its lawsuit. “Upon launching video generation, the Service temporarily refused to ‘animate’ (i.e., generate videos from) many of the infringing images of Warner Bros. Discovery’s characters that Midjourney generated. Midjourney could only do this because it recognizes that its Service’s outputs infringe Warner Bros. Discovery’s copyrights.
“Despite this capability and awareness, within the last couple of weeks, Midjourney deliberately removed these protection measures on video in its Service… It is hard to imagine copyright infringement that is any more willful than what Midjourney is doing here.”
Founded in 2021 by David Holz, Midjourney’s gen AI service earned more than $200 million in revenue in 2023, and reportedly made $300 million in revenue in 2024. As of September 2024, it had nearly 21 million users.
Midjourney first launched its Service in February 2022 as a “bot” accessible within the Discord communication platform. By October 2023, Midjourney was offering its service to consumers via its own website, Midjourney.com. Originally, the website was open only to Midjourney customers who had used Midjourney’s Service via the Discord platform but by August 2024, Midjourney was offering its Service to all subscribers and by April of this year, Midjourney launched version 7 of its image Service.
Midjourney recently launched “Midjourney TV,” a 24/7 video streaming channel that is publicly accessible via midjourney.tv or Midjourney’s official YouTube page.
The lawsuit against Midjourney is similar to one filed by Disney and Universal, in June, seeking similar damages.
