Hollywood giants' cross borders to defend intellectual property in the AI era

Disney, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) have jointly filed a sweeping copyright infringement lawsuit against Chinese generative AI startup MiniMax. The case, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is being hailed as a landmark battle that underscores how the fight to protect intellectual property (IP) in the age of artificial intelligence now transcends national borders.

Background of the Case

This latest legal clash follows Disney and NBCUniversal’s June lawsuit against Midjourney, another AI company accused of training its models on copyrighted works without permission. Earlier this month, Warner Bros. Discovery joined that litigation, effectively consolidating Hollywood’s major studios into a united front.

According to the complaint filed in California, MiniMax has “willfully and brazenly” ignored U.S. copyright law, treating copyrighted characters as if they were its own intellectual property. The studios argue that the company’s practices represent not just negligence, but deliberate and flagrant infringement.