Midjourney is pressing a federal court to force Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. to disclose the full scope of their internal AI usage during discovery in a copyright infringement lawsuit. The startup argues that the studios are selectively withholding documents about their own generative AI practices while claiming Midjourney's image-generation models infringe their copyrights, and that revealing such documents would show the studios themselves train AI on unlicensed content—supporting Midjourney's fair use defense.
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In an ongoing legal dispute with Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. over copyright infringement claims, Midjourney filed to overturn a judge's earlier ruling that limited which documents the studios must produce. Midjourney wants the studios to reveal all their generative AI usage, not just content that led to public-facing videos and images, and to disclose all prompts and outputs from Midjourney itself.
Why it matters
Midjourney argues that the studios are "cherry-picking" documents to support their market harm claims while hiding evidence of their own AI practices. The startup contends that if the studios are developing AI models internally for storyboarding or content ideation using unlicensed copyrighted material, it would demonstrate that training on such content is an industry custom—and would support Midjourney's fair use defense.
What to watch
The studios' legal team has previously characterized Midjourney's request as a "fishing expedition," and the studios maintain they do not seek to shut down Midjourney's business but rather want it to stop copying their characters and content without authorization. The outcome of the discovery dispute could shape what evidence each side can use to prove its case.
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