Midjourney seeks discovery of Disney, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros' own generative AI use in copyright suit

What happened: In the studios' landmark copyright suit against Midjourney (Disney, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros allege Midjourney's tools infringe by letting users generate images of famous characters such as Darth Vader and Shrek), Midjourney is now seeking discovery of documents relating to the studios' own use of generative AI — including whether they have trained or used AI systems on third-party copyrighted materials. Midjourney's filing argues that evidence the studios train or use AI on third-party works may be relevant to fair use, industry practice, and the studios' market-harm claims. The studios are resisting; their lead lawyer has called the request a "fishing expedition."

Why it matters to creators: The discovery fight will shape what training-dataset, model-development, prompt, output, and internal AI-policy evidence must be disclosed in AI copyright cases, and whether rights holders' own AI practices can undercut their infringement claims — precedent that affects how visual artists and filmmakers can litigate training-data claims.

Not yet known: Whether the court grants the discovery requests. The article cautions that even proof of the studios' own AI use would not automatically make Midjourney's conduct lawful — fair use still turns on what was copied, how it was used, and licensing-market harm. No legal advice or liability claims made.