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

Midjourney is seeking to broaden what it can learn in its copyright case with major Hollywood studios by asking a federal judge to compel disclosure of the studios’ internal AI practices. A Variety report says Midjourney wants Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. Discovery to provide information relevant to its “fair use” defense. The dispute began in June 2025, when Disney and Comcast’s Universal sued Midjourney, alleging large-scale infringement of copyrighted characters and describing the platform as generating unauthorized recreations, including Darth Vader and Elsa. Warner Bros. Discovery joined in September 2025, seeking $150,000 per work and pointing to characters such as Superman, Batman and Bugs Bunny. Midjourney’s broader discovery bid was limited by a magistrate judge in mid-June 2026 to consumer-facing AI tools. Midjourney then asked Judge John Kronstadt to overturn that decision.