EVOX Productions sues Midjourney, alleging tens of thousands of car photos used for AI training

What happened

Automotive photography company EVOX Productions LLC filed a lawsuit against Midjourney on July 30, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. EVOX describes itself as the market-leading creator and licensor of automotive photography, having photographed nearly every commercially available car make and model sold in the U.S. since 2000. The complaint alleges Midjourney used tens of thousands of EVOX's copyrighted vehicle photos without permission to train its AI image generator, downloading the images from publicly available online datasets without obtaining a license or consent. EVOX further alleges Midjourney removed copyright information — watermarks, image credits, and metadata — before using the photos for training. Midjourney has argued in other cases that training AI on copyrighted material qualifies as fair use. EVOX asks the court to stop the alleged use of its photos and to order compensation.

Why it matters to creators

This is a photographer-led training-data case against a major AI image generator: a working licensing business alleges its catalog was ingested without permission or payment, with watermarks and metadata allegedly stripped first. The copyright-management-information (CMI) removal claim adds a DMCA dimension on top of the training question. For photographers and stock-image licensors, the case tests whether a model company can build a competing subscription product on their archives. It follows the same playbook as EVOX's similar complaints against Stability AI and Google, reported by Bloomberg Law News.

What is not yet known

The complaint's case number and docket details; Midjourney's formal response in this specific case; whether the court accepts the fair-use defense; and any outcome — this is a newly filed complaint, not a ruling.