Disney Enterprises, Inc. v. Minimax

**Plaintiff:** Disney Enterprises, Inc.; Universal City Studios Productions LLLP; Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.; Marvel Characters, Inc.; MVL Film Finance LLC; Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; DC Comics; The Cartoon Network, Inc.; Turner Entertainment Co.; Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.; and DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. (collectively, the major Hollywood studios) **Defendant:** MiniMax / Shanghai Xiyu Jizhi Technology Co. Ltd. (Chinese AI company); Nanonoble Pte. Ltd. (Singaporean affiliate/agent), and Does 1–20 — operators of the Hailuo AI image and video generation service **Core allegation:** MiniMax trained its Hailuo AI service on unauthorized copies of Plaintiffs' copyrighted works and then directly reproduces, displays, performs, and distributes infringing AI-generated images and videos depicting Plaintiffs' protected characters on demand. MiniMax also actively uses those infringing character depictions in its own advertising on Instagram and WeChat, and facilitates and induces subscriber infringement, all willfully and despite Plaintiffs' demands to stop. **Asserted IP:** - Disney's registered copyrighted works listed in Exhibit A (including characters: Spider-Man, Darth Vader, Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Buzz Lightyear, Shrek) - Warner Bros. Discovery's registered copyrighted works listed in Exhibit B (including characters: Superman, Wonder Woman, the Joker, Supergirl, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry) - Universal's registered copyrighted works (including characters: Minions/Despicable Me franchise) - DreamWorks Animation's registered copyrighted works (including Shrek characters) - Registration numbers contained in Exhibits A and B (not reproduced in the extracted complaint text) **Relief sought:** Not stated in extracted text (injunctive relief and damages anticipated under 17 U.S.C. § 501; jury trial demanded) **Why it matters:** This is the first major coordinated lawsuit by the three dominant Hollywood studio groups against a Chinese AI video-generation platform, directly testing whether generative AI services that replicate named fictional characters on user demand constitute willful copyright infringement at scale — with a $4 billion-valued defendant and the entire AI training-and-output liability framework at stake.