Lawsuit tracker
Studios v. MiniMax
Disney, Universal & Warner Bros. Discovery v. MiniMax (C.D. Cal.)
| Plaintiffs | Disney, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery entities |
|---|---|
| Defendants | MiniMax, the Chinese developer of the Hailuo AI image and video generator |
| Court | U.S. District Court for the Central District of California |
| Filed | 2025-09-16 |
| Status | Active |
| Content type | film & TV |
| Last updated | 2026-07-21 |
The claims
Copyright infringement over the training of Hailuo AI and over image and video outputs of studio characters; seeks profits, damages and an injunction
What has happened
A week and a half after Warner Bros. sued Midjourney, all three studio groups jointly sued MiniMax, the Shanghai-based company behind the Hailuo AI generator. The complaint alleges Hailuo was built on the studios’ works "pirated and plundered" at massive scale, and that simple prompts return downloadable images and videos of Darth Vader, the Minions and Wonder Woman carrying MiniMax Hailuo branding. The studios also object to MiniMax marketing the service as a "Hollywood studio in your pocket." They seek MiniMax’s profits from the alleged infringement and an order barring the service absent copyright protections. MiniMax has since asked the court to throw out the case, and the studios have urged the judge to keep it alive; no ruling on that motion has been reported as of July 2026.
Key developments
- 2025-09-16 — Disney, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery jointly sued MiniMax in California federal court over the Hailuo AI image and video service.
- 2026-07 — Per reporting, MiniMax’s bid to dismiss the case has been briefed, with the studios opposing; no decision has been reported as of July 2026.
Why it matters for training data
This is the studios’ first strike at a foreign video-model developer, and it will test whether US courts can reach a Chinese AI company whose product is offered to US users. If jurisdiction holds, offshore training stops being a shield for consumer-facing services, which changes the calculus for anyone sourcing models or data from vendors outside US reach. The branding allegations also show that using famous characters in marketing compounds training-data claims.
Sources
- CNBC on the filing
- Variety on the complaint
- The Hollywood Reporter on the suit
- Bloomberg Law on the dismissal fight
Deeper analysis
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