The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday filed a joint lawsuit against Chinese AI firm MiniMax, alleging large-scale piracy of their respective studios' copyrighted works.
Why it matters: It's the second major AI lawsuit from the firms this year, suggesting Hollywood is starting to take a more aggressive stance in protecting its intellectual property.
- Disney and NBCUniversal teamed up to sue Midjourney, a generative AI company, for copyright infringement in June. WBD joined that legal copyright battle earlier this month.
Zoom in: In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the companies argue MiniMax disregards U.S. copyright law by treating the studios' copyrighted characters like its own. The parties call MiniMax's copyright infringement "willful and brazen."
- The studios argue MiniMax failed to act on their requests to avoid copyright infringement, even when presented with reasonable measures employed by other AI firms.
- "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 complaint reads.
- The lawsuit also claims MiniMax used well-known copyrighted characters to advertise the capabilities of its popular image and video-generating service, Hailuo AI.
What they're saying: "We support innovation that enhances human creativity while protecting the contributions of countless creators and the entire creative industry," Disney, NBCU and WBD said in a joint statement,
- "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."
MiniMax filed for an IPO in Hong Kong in July with an estimated valuation of $4 billion.
- The startup has previously received funding from Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent.
The big picture: The new complaint shows how far U.S. movie studios are willing to go to protect their intellectual property in the AI era, even from companies that are not based in the U.S.
- U.S. movie studios have a long track record of distributing films in China and elsewhere in the East.
