Midjourney Demands Studios Reveal Their Own AI Use in Copyright Case
The image generator is asking a federal judge to force Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery to disclose internal AI practices as part of its fair-use defense.
Midjourney is pushing back against Hollywood's copyright infringement claims by demanding the studios suing it reveal their own artificial intelligence practices, according to a Variety report published this week.
The AI image generation company has asked a federal judge to compel Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery to disclose internal AI systems, training data, and strategic plans. Midjourney argues that if the studios are using comparable AI technology themselves, that evidence is central to its legal defense.
The copyright battle's origins
The litigation began in June 2025 when Disney and Comcast's Universal filed suit against Midjourney, alleging the platform enabled widespread copyright infringement of protected characters. The complaint characterized Midjourney as a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" for generating unauthorized images of characters including Darth Vader and Elsa.
Warner Bros. Discovery escalated the conflict three months later in September 2025, accusing Midjourney of "brazen theft" involving Superman, Batman, and Bugs Bunny. The studio is seeking $150,000 in damages per infringed work.
Midjourney's discovery strategy
More than a year into the case, Midjourney has mounted a fair-use defense while simultaneously pursuing what its attorney Bobby Ghajar describes as evidence of the studios "doing the very thing they seek to punish." The company is requesting access to AI business plans, training datasets, model weights, and board presentations related to artificial intelligence.
A magistrate judge rejected Midjourney's broader discovery request in mid-June 2026, limiting the studios' disclosure requirements to consumer-facing AI tools rather than internal systems. Midjourney has now asked Judge John Kronstadt to overturn that ruling.
The studios' attorney David Singer has characterized Midjourney's effort as a "fishing expedition" designed to distract from the company's own alleged infringement.
Why it matters
This discovery dispute highlights a tension at the heart of AI copyright litigation: whether companies that use AI internally can credibly claim infringement when others deploy similar technology publicly. If Midjourney succeeds in forcing disclosure of the studios' AI practices, it could expose how entertainment companies are themselves training models on copyrighted material—potentially undermining their legal position. The outcome may influence how courts evaluate fair-use defenses in AI cases and whether a company's own AI usage affects its standing to sue competitors.
The details of this ongoing case were first reported by Variety.
This is an original analysis by the Omega editorial team. Source reporting: AI Watch.
Want systems like this working for your business?
Book a Call
