Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal file joint lawsuit against generative AI app Hailuo (www.engadget.com)

Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal Studios have jointly sued Chinese company MiniMax, owner of the Hailuo AI app, in California, accusing the platform of “pirat[ing] and plunder[ing]” the studios’ copyrighted works at scale. The complaint — backed by dozens of screenshots — alleges Hailuo’s image- and video-generation tools produce infringing content spanning Marvel/DC superheroes, Star Wars, Minions and other protected characters. Plaintiffs say MiniMax not only failed to adopt reasonable safeguards but actively marketed and encouraged these creations (Hailuo was promoted as a “Hollywood studio in your pocket” and ran ads inviting users to generate custom videos using studio IP), describing the company’s business model as purposefully built around infringement. The case is significant because it escalates coordinated enforcement by major rights holders against generative-AI platforms and highlights two central legal-technical flashpoints: whether models and apps that produce copyrighted characters are directly liable for outputs, and what preventive measures (training-data vetting, prompt restrictions, filtering, or provenance controls) platforms must implement. Coming on the heels of suits against Midjourney and broader litigation involving publishers and AI vendors (including a recent high-profile authors’ class action tied to Anthropic and a separate claim against Apple), this complaint reinforces a growing industry push to define liability, acceptable training practices, and commercial limits for consumer-facing generative AI tools.