Core Viewpoint - The copyright battle between Hollywood and AI has escalated, with major studios suing the domestic company MiniMax for copyright infringement related to its AI product "Hai Luo AI" [2] Group 1: Legal Action and Allegations - Disney, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. have jointly filed a lawsuit against MiniMax, claiming that "Hai Luo AI" unlawfully reproduces and displays copyrighted works without authorization [2] - The lawsuit accuses MiniMax of not only direct infringement but also of aiding infringement, thus holding it liable for joint responsibility [2] - The plaintiffs include major Hollywood entities such as Marvel, Disney, 20th Century Fox, DC Comics, and DreamWorks, while the defendants include MiniMax's parent company Shanghai Xiyu Technology and its international operations company Nanonoble Pte Ltd [2] Group 2: MiniMax Overview and Product Details - MiniMax, founded in 2021 by former SenseTime vice president Yan Junjie, is one of the "six little dragons" of domestic AI startups, focusing on international expansion [4] - The company claims its self-developed multimodal models and AI applications cover over 200 countries and regions, with 157 million individual users [4] - "Hai Luo AI" specializes in generating images and videos from text prompts, and it gained significant traction in the U.S. AI application market, ranking among the top ten downloads in the first half of 2024 [4] Group 3: Allegations of Inaction and Evidence - The plaintiffs argue that MiniMax had the capability to prevent copyright infringement but chose not to, despite having systems in place to filter out violent and explicit content [6] - A letter from the plaintiffs' lawyers listed around 50 infringing characters, including Iron Man and Spider-Man, but MiniMax did not respond or take down the content [6] - MiniMax has been using copyrighted characters in promotional videos on social media platforms, with specific posts cited as evidence in the lawsuit [7] Group 4: Financial Implications and Demands - MiniMax is currently in its C-round of investment, having previously received funding from major investors like Alibaba, Tencent, and Sequoia China, with an estimated valuation of approximately $4 billion [7] - The lawsuit seeks compensation for actual damages or statutory damages, which could total up to $7.5 million based on the 50 works mentioned [8] - The plaintiffs also request a court injunction to prevent MiniMax from continuing to infringe on copyrighted works and to implement appropriate copyright protection mechanisms in "Hai Luo AI" [8]