By India McCarty
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal teamed up to take on an AI company, filing a lawsuit that claims they’re the victims of “willful and brazen” copyright infringement.
“MiniMax operates Hailuo AI, a Chinese artificial intelligence image and video generating service that pirates and plunders Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works on a massive scale,” the companies claimed in their joint lawsuit. “MiniMax markets Hailuo AI as a ‘Hollywood studio in your pocket’ — an audacious self-anointed nickname given that MiniMax built its business from intellectual property stolen from Hollywood studios like Plaintiffs.”
The suit continued, “The Hailuo service offers its subscribers an endless supply of infringing images and videos featuring Plaintiffs’ famous copyrighted characters. MiniMax completely disregards U.S. copyright law and treats Plaintiffs’ valuable copyrighted characters like its own.”
For example, if a MiniMax subscriber requests an image of the Disney-owned Darth Vader, MiniMax generates high-quality images of the character, complete with MiniMax Hailuo branding.
Related: Warner Bros. Discovery Sues AI Company Midjourney for Copyright Infringement
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal have filed a lawsuit against Chinese AI company MiniMax over “willful and brazen” copyright infringement. The company is reportedly valued at $4 billion.
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Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal alleged that MiniMax has not responded to multiple cease-and-desist letters.
“MiniMax’s bootlegging business model and defiance of U.S 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, which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation’s economy,” the suit stated.
In a statement, the three companies said, “A responsible approach to AI innovation is critical, and today’s lawsuit against MiniMax again demonstrates our shared commitment to holding accountable those who violate copyright laws, wherever they may be based.”
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal are seeking maximum statutory damages (of $150,000 per infringed work), as well as an injunction barring MiniMax from infringing on the studios’ copyright works again.
This is the second lawsuit that Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have paired up on. Earlier this summer, they filed suit against AI company Midjourney.
In their joint suit, the companies claimed, “For more than 100 years, Disney and Universal have delighted audiences around the world by investing in and fostering American creative innovation and producing some of the greatest motion pictures and fictional characters of all time.”
“Midjourney, however, seeks to reap the rewards of Plaintiffs’ creative investment by selling an artificial intelligence (‘AI’) image-generating service (‘Image Service’) that functions as a virtual vending machine, generating endless unauthorized copies of Disney’s and Universal’s copyrighted works,” the suit continued.
As AI becomes more of an issue in all avenues of life, it looks like movie studios are willing to fight back for their intellectual property.
Read Next: How Does Hollywood Really Feel About AI? It’s Complicated.
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