Midjourney Escalates Copyright Battle, Seeks Disclosure of Studio AI Projects
Artificial intelligence image generator Midjourney is escalating its legal battle with some of Hollywood's biggest studios. The company has asked a US court to require Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros to disclose how they use AI internally. This request is part of an ongoing copyright lawsuit in which the studios have accused Midjourney of training its AI models on copyrighted characters without permission.
According to a report by Variety, the latest court filing argues that the studios should not be allowed to limit what evidence they provide during the discovery process. Midjourney claims that such restrictions would prevent it from presenting a complete defence. The dispute stems from lawsuits filed by Disney and Universal last year, later joined by Warner Bros, alleging that Midjourney's image-generation models can create images featuring protected characters such as Bart Simpson and Darth Vader.
The studios argue that Midjourney's AI was trained on vast datasets that likely included copyrighted material sourced from the internet without authorisation. Midjourney contends that its models are transformative and do not infringe copyright, but it now seeks to examine the studios' own AI projects to strengthen its case. The company believes that the studios may be using similar technologies in their own operations, which could undermine their claims of infringement.
Legal experts note that this case could set a significant precedent for AI and copyright law. The outcome may influence how AI companies train their models and how content creators protect their intellectual property. The court has yet to rule on Midjourney's request for expanded discovery. Both sides are expected to present further arguments in the coming weeks.
