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Filipino artist sues Memes.ai over alleged sale of his comic templates
The complaint says the two-panel strip was offered to paying subscribers through a searchable template library under its own name, and seeks an injunction and an accounting of profits.
Filipino cartoonist Elmer Saflor, also known as Superelmer, has sued Memes Apps, the operator of Memes.ai, alleging the platform sold access to his comic “Running Away Balloon” as an advertising template, without raising a dispute over how AI models were trained, according to Decrypt.
Saflor filed the complaint on July 1 in the Central District of California. He claims the platform offered his registered two-panel strip, which he says he created in 2024, to paying subscribers, and that Memes.ai marketed the generated ads as usable for customers’ paid advertising.
The lawsuit alleges direct, contributory, and vicarious infringement, and it seeks a permanent injunction, an accounting of profits, and disgorgement. Decrypt reports Saflor is also seeking statutory damages capped by the Copyright Act at $150,000 per work for willful infringement.
Decryption notes the case focuses on what Saflor calls ordinary reproduction and public display, arguing the artwork sat in a paywalled template catalogue under its own name and was searchable by subscribers. A cited internet law scholar tells Ars Technica that a ruling against Memes Apps could affect other meme generators, especially given the suit’s focus on the supplier rather than the advertiser.