Three Hollywood film studios have filed a copyright lawsuit against a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company.
According to the Los Angeles Times (LA) on the 16th (local time), The Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios under Comcast, and Warner Bros. Discovery filed a lawsuit claiming that Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm MiniMax used their copyrighted characters as if they were its own.
The corporations said MiniMax's video and image generator "Hailuo AI," advertised as "a Hollywood studio in your pocket," used characters like Joker and Groot in ads without their permission.
According to the complaint, Hailuo AI allows users who request a certain type of Star Wars character to generate high-quality images and videos embodying it for download. It is an unauthorized alteration and reproduction of copyrighted characters without the film studios' consent.
The complaint says, "MiniMax completely disregards U.S. copyright law and treats plaintiffs' valuable copyrighted characters as if they were its own characters," adding that "MiniMax's copyright infringement is intentional and brazen."
This is not the first time major Hollywood film studios have filed a copyright lawsuit against an AI company. Earlier, Disney and Universal sued the U.S. AI company Midjourney in June, and Warner Bros. also filed suit against Midjourney earlier this month.