Midjourney pushes back hard against Disney and Universal’s copyright lawsuit. The AI image platform says the studios can’t stop AI training on their work.
The issue started in June when Disney and Universal sued Midjourney, accusing it of enabling users to create near-identical copies of their copyrighted characters. They called it “vast, intentional, and unrelenting copyright infringement.”
On Wednesday, Midjourney filed a response arguing that AI training falls under “fair use.” 
Midjourney’s lawyers stated:
Copyright law does not confer absolute control over the use of copyrighted works.
The limited monopoly granted by copyright must give way to fair use, which safeguards countervailing public interests in the free flow of ideas and information.
The company also threw shade at the studios for “having it both ways.” Midjourney pointed out that many visual effects vendors who work with Disney and Universal use its platform. Even “many dozens” of Midjourney subscribers have email addresses linked to the studios, suggesting internal use. Plus, Disney CEO Bob Iger praised AI as “an invaluable tool for artists” earlier this year.
Midjourney argues:
Plaintiffs cannot have it both ways, seeking to profit — through their use of Midjourney and other generative AI tools — from industry-standard AI training practices on the one hand, while on the other hand accusing Midjourney of wrongdoing for the same.
The lawsuit targets AI-generated images that imitate the studios’ copyrighted works, not just the training process itself. Midjourney says its users follow terms banning copyright infringement, and that making images similar to copyrighted characters isn’t automatically illegal.
The lawyers added:
Indeed, there are any number of legitimate, noninfringing grounds to create images incorporating characters from popular culture like those claimed by Plaintiffs, including non-commercial fan art, experimentation and ideation, and social commentary and criticism.
Plaintiffs seek to stifle them all.
Midjourney is represented by Cooley LLP attorneys Bobby Ghajar, John Paul Oleksiuk, Judd Lauter, and Ellie Dupler. Ghajar is also handling Meta’s defense in a separate AI training lawsuit involving authors.
