Midjourney Forces Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. to Reveal How They Use AI in Copyright Battle

Midjourney Forces Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. to Reveal How They Use AI in Copyright Battle

Midjourney is trying to force Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. to share details about how they use artificial intelligence. The move comes as the AI image company continues to defend itself in a major copyright lawsuit brought by the three Hollywood studios.

Midjourney has rejected these claims. The company says its system is protected under "fair use." It also argues that the studios themselves may be using artificial intelligence in similar ways during their own production processes.

In June, a magistrate judge limited what Midjourney could request from the studios during the discovery process. The judge said the studios only need to share information about "consumer-facing" AI tools. That means public-facing applications, not internal systems used behind the scenes.

Midjourney was not satisfied with that decision. This week, its lawyers filed a motion asking Judge John Kronstadt to reverse the ruling and allow broader access to information about how the studios use AI.

Midjourney attorney Bobby Ghajar explained the company's position in court documents. He wrote, "If Plaintiffs are doing the very thing they seek to punish, that evidence goes to the heart of Midjourney's fair use and unclean hands defenses."

The company is asking for a wide range of internal materials. This includes AI business plans, research reports, training data, model weights, and documents related to how AI is used in movie and TV production.

Ghajar added in court filings, "If Plaintiffs are developing image-generating AI models - trained on unlicensed, third-party copyrighted data - for internal use in storyboarding or ideating content for film or TV, that evidence would equally demonstrate that it is an industry custom."

The studios, however, strongly disagree with Midjourney's approach. Attorney David Singer previously described Midjourney's strategy as a distraction from the main issue of alleged copyright infringement.

Singer wrote, "Plaintiffs do not seek to stop AI technology or even shut down Midjourney's business. Plaintiffs simply want Midjourney to stop copying their movies and TV shows and to stop distributing, publicly displaying, publicly performing, and creating derivative works that include copies of Plaintiffs' famous characters without authorization."