Midjourney, a company developing AI for image generation, is demanding that Hollywood film studios it is in litigation with disclose details of their AI usage.
Midjourney, a developer of image generation AI, is seeking disclosure from three major film studios—Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)—regarding their use of AI in a copyright lawsuit. The dispute has shifted to the scope of the disclosure procedure, with the presiding judge initially ruling that only information regarding consumer-facing videos and images should be disclosed. Midjourney has now filed a motion to overturn this restriction.
Midjourney wants Hollywood studios to reveal the details of their AI usage | TechCrunch
The issue began in 2025 when Disney and Universal sued Midjourney for copyright infringement. The problem stemmed from the fact that the company's models could generate images of characters such as Bart Simpson and Darth Vader.
Disney and Universal fiercely criticize and sue image generation AI Midjourney, calling it a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism' - GIGAZINE
A few months later, Warner Bros. filed a similar lawsuit. Midjourney argued that using copyrighted character images for educational purposes was within the scope of fair use.
Warner Bros. joins copyright infringement lawsuit against image generation AI Midjourney - GIGAZINE
In its filing, Midjourney argues that it is unfair for the studio to selectively disclose only documents that support market infringement while concealing documents that would help defend its own position. If the studio itself is developing AI models for internal use to create storyboards and generate ideas, Midjourney claims that this would serve as evidence that downloading copyrighted material without permission and training the models is industry practice.
Midjourney is also seeking disclosure of all prompts and generated results used by the studio on Midjourney, stating that the information regarding the infringing images included in the complaint is insufficient.
In response, the studio's representatives criticized Midjourney's demands as mere digging for evidence, explaining that the studio is not trying to shut down AI technology itself or Midjourney's business, but simply wants to stop the unauthorized copying and creation of derivative works of its films and television shows.
According to a document filed by Midjourney with federal district court on June 29, 2026, the company has requested a review by a superior judge against the magistrate's June ruling. The main points of contention are three: limiting disclosures regarding the development and use of AI to consumer use only; using incorrect legal standards when determining the unclean hands defense; and protecting prompts entered by the studio into Midjourney as deliverables related to attorney's opinions .
The written statement also points out that the magistrate failed to mention the fact that Disney had announced it had entered into a contract to provide characters to OpenAI's video generation service, Sora. Furthermore, it cites the fact that investigators testified that the new version of the model was able to generate character images that it could not generate before, and argues that selective disclosure by the studio should not be permitted. The hearing is scheduled for August 17, 2026.
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