Disney, Universal, Warner Bros Sue Chinese AI Startup MiniMax

Walt Disney Co., Comcast Corp.’s Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. are suing Chinese artificial intelligence startup MiniMax, accusing the company of pirating the studios’ intellectual property.

Founded in 2021, Shanghai-based MiniMax has created several generative AI models that run its companion apps, such as video and image editor Hailuo AI and Talkie, a chatbot that competes with Character.AI in the US. Considered one of China’s so-called AI Dragons, the company is valued at about $3 billion, is aiming for a public market listing as soon as this year, Bloomberg has reported. 

In the complaint, filed Tuesday in the central district of California, Disney and the plaintiffs argue that MiniMax “completely disregards US copyright law and treats valuable copyrighted characters like its own.”

MiniMax markets Hailuo AI as a “Hollywood studio in your pocket,” according to the complaint, which calls it “an audacious self-anointed nickname given that MinMax built its business from intellectual property stolen from Hollywood studios.”

A representative for MiniMax didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hailuo offers subscribers images and videos that feature copyrighted characters from the studios’ libraries, which include some of the most well-known movie figures of all time, such as Spider-Man, Superman to Darth Vader, Shrek, Buzz Lightyear and Bugs Bunny. In one example, the complaint showed how a MiniMax subscriber could submit a text prompt requesting the character Darth Vader in a particular setting or doing a particular action. MiniMax then generates high quality, downloadable images and videos featuring Disney’s character, with the MiniMax and Hailuo branding.

The complaint says that MiniMax uses copyrighted characters to advertise and promote its Hailuo AI video service to US customers.

Hollywood has been taking an aggressive stance against a mushrooming crop of AI companies that use sophisticated technology to allow users to generate new content based on simple word prompts. In June, Disney and Universal sued Midjourney Inc., an AI generator with millions of registered users, claiming the company uses copyrighted works to train its software that allows people to create images that use the studios’ famous characters. Earlier this month, Warner Bros. filed its own suit against San Francisco-based Midjourney.

Through their mounting legal actions, Disney and its peers are not only seeking compensation for the use of their intellectual property, but they are framing the theft as a broader cultural attack on the creative community and a threat to the American motion picture industry, which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation’s economy, according to the complaint.

The plaintiffs claim they have asked MiniMax to stop using their copyrighted works without permission, to no avail, and said the company has the ability to implement protection measures to prevent the public display and distribution of their works.

The case is Disney v. MiniMax, 25-cv-08768, US District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).