Walt Disney Co., Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Discovery have sued Chinese AI company MiniMax. The US-based entertainment companies have alleged that the service offered by the AI startup, which is also known as one of China’s ‘Six Tigers’, generates copyrighted characters without permission. Alongside Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, Baichuan Intelligence, StepFun, and 01.AI, Minimax is seen as part of the country’s most prominent AI firms. These companies are staffed with talent that includes former employees of major U.S. and Chinese tech giants, such as Google and Huawei.

What the US entertainment companies said in the lawsuit

According to a report by The LA Times, the lawsuit claims MiniMax’s AI has created iconic characters, including Darth Vader, the Minions, and Wonder Woman. The entertainment studios are seeking damages of up to $150,000 for each infringed work, along with attorney fees and costs. They have also requested that MiniMax be stopped from any further infringement. In their complaint (as seen by LA Times), filed in the US District Court in Los Angeles, the companies said: “MiniMax’s bootlegging business model and defiance of US copyright law are not only an attack on Plaintiffs and the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life, but are also a broader threat to the American motion picture industry.”The entertainment companies asked that MiniMax be barred from further infringement and are seeking damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work, along with attorney fees and costs.According to the lawsuit, Shanghai-based MiniMax operates a service called Hailuo AI, marketed as a “Hollywood studio in your pocket.” The platform allegedly featured characters such as the Joker and Groot in its ads without the studios’ consent. The document states that users can enter a text prompt requesting characters like “Star Wars’” Yoda or DC Comics’ Superman, and Hailuo AI can generate high-quality, downloadable images or video of them.“MiniMax completely disregards U.S. copyright law and treats Plaintiffs’ valuable copyrighted characters like its own. MiniMax’s copyright infringement is willful and brazen. Given the rapid advancement in technology in the AI video generation field … it is only a matter of time until Hailuo AI can generate unauthorized, infringing videos featuring Plaintiffs’ copyrighted characters that are substantially longer, and even eventually the same duration as a movie or television program,” the lawsuit added.This marks the latest wave of copyright lawsuits filed by major studios against AI companies over intellectual property issues. In June, Disney and Universal Pictures sued AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement, and earlier this month, Warner Bros. Discovery also brought a lawsuit against Midjourney.