Artist sues AI meme platform for selling his viral comic as a paid ad template

Artist's AI copyright lawsuit tests what happens when the output is a copy

Elmer Saflor created the "Running Away Balloon" comic. The two-panel strip shows a man lunging for a yellow balloon labeled "opportunities" while a smiling pink blob labeled "shyness" holds him back. Since 2017, millions of people have turned it into a reaction meme, repurposing the characters to express their own frustrations with personal limitations. Saflor, a digital creator and artist in the Philippines, never tried to stop them 1.

What he did object to, according to a lawsuit filed July 1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, is an AI meme platform allegedly selling verbatim copies of his artwork as a paid advertising template 2.

The defendant is Memes Apps, which operates the AI-powered meme creation platforms Memes.ai and Memes AI Studio. Saflor alleges that the company included his copyrighted comic in its template library, available to paying subscribers at $40 to $199 per month, and marketed the service to brands, agencies, and marketers for generating commercial advertisements 2. The comic was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in March 2024 under registration number VA 2-397-201 2.

Why this AI copyright lawsuit matters beyond memes

The central legal defense in the largest AI copyright disputes holds that AI systems do not reproduce original works in their outputs. Training on copyrighted material, the argument goes, is different from copying it. Eric Goldman, an internet law expert, told Ars Technica that this meme generator copyright case could resonate into those bigger fights because the platform's outputs are not AI-generated remixes or derivative works. They are copies of Saflor's original comic 1.

When the output is a copy, the argument that AI systems do not reproduce originals has nothing to stand on.

Goldman said Saflor has started his case "on the right foot" by telling "the right story for the judge" in the complaint 1. There is supporting precedent. In a 2024 case involving the "SuccessKid" meme, a court ruled that the meme could not be used in a campaign advertisement without permission. Goldman wrote at the time that noncommercial meme sharing likely qualifies as fair use, but those protections likely do not extend to advertising 1.

Suing the platform, not the advertiser

Saflor chose an ambitious target. Rather than pursuing individual advertisers who may have used his comic, he is suing the platform that supplied the template. Goldman told Ars that this strategy could create "a whole host of other legal dilemmas" for the court, because a ruling framed too broadly could theoretically undercut the entire meme ecosystem 1.

But Goldman also identified what could sink Memes Apps: the subscription model itself. Offering access to copyrighted meme templates for monthly fees of $40 or $199, packaged as a tool for third-party advertisers, resembles a commercial licensing arrangement that never obtained a license 1. Unless the company can demonstrate that this is standard practice across the meme generator industry, the structure of the deal could be its liability 1.

Obstacles for the plaintiff

Saflor faces practical hurdles. He told Ars that he has not seen examples of his meme used in ads generated by the platform and filed the lawsuit partly to compel discovery 1. If no advertiser actually used his comic to produce an ad, proving harm becomes difficult. Goldman noted that calculating damages would be challenging because subscription revenue makes it hard to isolate the value of any single meme template 1.

The complaint cites Memes Apps' public portfolio to argue the service is widely used. According to the complaint as reported by Ars, the platform works with more than 40 brands generating up to 1,000 ads monthly and reaching more than 75 million social media followers 1. Ars could not reach Memes Apps for comment and could not confirm whether Saflor's template was widely used by subscribers or ever used in an ad 1.

Saflor is seeking a permanent injunction, actual damages, statutory damages for alleged willful copyright infringement, disgorgement of profits, and attorneys' fees 2.

Goldman told Ars that the case's significance lies in one specific fact: the platform's outputs include actual copies of Saflor's original work 1. In the largest AI copyright disputes, model makers maintain that original works do not appear in their outputs, a contention Goldman identified as "key to their defense" 1. A ruling for Saflor would put that contention to a test the defense was never built to withstand.