Disney’s Copyright Suit Against Chinese AI Developer Advances

The Walt Disney Co. and other major movie studios will move forward with their copyright claims against the makers of the Hailuo AI program after a federal judge in California refused to toss the case.

Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros.—as well as their subsidiaries—convinced the US District Court for the Central District of California Friday that they made plausible claims that Hailuo AI’s ability to generate near-perfect likenesses of their well-known characters constituted both direct and secondary infringement.

Shanghai Xiyu Jizhi Technology Co., which does business as MiniMax, and Singapore-based Nanonoble Pte. “raise numerous arguments that miss the forest for ...