Amid an ongoing legal clash with three major Hollywood studios, AI company Midjourney is pushing for those studios to disclose their own AI usage practices.
Last year, Disney and Universal initiated a lawsuit against Midjourney, citing copyright violations and claiming that the startup’s image-generating technology could create representations of characters like Bart Simpson and Darth Vader, which are owned by the studios. Following this, Warner Bros. joined the legal battle against Midjourney.
Midjourney contends that using copyrighted character images to train its AI systems falls under the fair use doctrine.
The focal point of the ongoing legal dispute is the information the studios must provide during the discovery phase. A judge has previously determined that the studios are required to share data related to their generative AI usage, but this is limited to instances that produce consumer-facing media.
In a recent legal filing, Midjourney aims to challenge this restriction, arguing it allows the studios to selectively submit only those documents that bolster their claims of market harm while denying Midjourney access to potentially exculpatory evidence.
Midjourney further asserts that the withheld materials would indicate whether the studios are, behind the scenes, engaging in practices similar to those for which they are suing Midjourney.
For instance, the startup claims that if the studios are creating AI models for internal projects like storyboarding or content development, these findings would illustrate an industry norm among studios themselves regarding the training of AI on unlicensed copyrighted material.
Additionally, Midjourney’s filing requests that the studios disclose all prompts used with its platform, along with the outputs generated, not just those prompts associated with the images alleged to infringe copyright.
David Singer, the lead attorney for the studios, previously described Midjourney’s request for documentation as a “fishing expedition.” He stated that the studios are not looking to hinder AI technology or shut down Midjourney’s operations but instead want the startup to cease replicating their films and television shows and to refrain from distributing, showcasing, or creating derivative works that include their characters without permission.
