Midjourney pushes to expose studios' own AI practices in copyright fight - Mashable

Midjourney is attempting to turn the tables on the Hollywood studios suing it for copyright infringement, asking a federal judge to compel Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery to disclose their internal use of artificial intelligence, according to a Variety report published this week . Jury tosses Musk OpenAI lawsuit, saves Sam Altman The discovery dispute is the latest chapter in a copyright battle that began in June 2025, when Disney and Comcast's Universal filed suit , accusing Midjourney of enabling large-scale infringement of copyrighted characters. That original complaint described Midjourney as a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" that generated unauthorized recreations of characters, including Darth Vader and Elsa, as previously reported by this outlet. Warner Bros. Discovery joined the fight three months later, in September 2025, accusing Midjourney of "brazen theft" involving characters such as Superman, Batman, and Bugs Bunny, and seeking $150,000 per infringed work. Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . More than a year into the litigation, Midjourney has countered with a "fair use" defense, arguing the studios engage in comparable AI practices internally. Per Variety , the company's attorney, Bobby Ghajar, wrote that if the studios are "doing the very thing they seek to punish," that evidence is central to Midjourney's fair-use and "unclean hands" arguments. The company is seeking access to the studios' AI business plans, training datasets, model weights, and board presentations on AI. A magistrate judge ruled against Midjourney's broader discovery request in mid-June 2026, limiting the studios' disclosure obligations to consumer-facing AI tools rather than internal systems. Midjourney has since asked Judge John Kronstadt to overturn that ruling. Midjourney is working on an full-body ultrasonic scanner. For real. Paramount's Warner Bros. acquisition to face lawsuit from U.S. states Amazon faces class action suit over Ring facial recognition feature OpenAI might give a 5 percent stake to the US government The studios' attorney, David Singer, has dismissed the effort as a "fishing expedition" meant to deflect from Midjourney's own conduct, according to Variety's reporting. Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and Mother Jones . In his free time, he cooks, loves to sleep, and greatly enjoys Detroit sports. If you have any tips or want to talk shop about the Lions, you can reach out to him on Bluesky @offbrandchance.bsky.social , by email at [email protected] , or on Signal at 224-417-6628.