Technology
California lawsuit over AI-generated memes tests ownership and intellectual property rights
A legal dispute over characters in a popular Roblox game tests whether AI-prompted creations qualify for copyright or trademark protections.
The short version
- Game developer Do Big Studios sued French startup Mementum Lab, seeking a ruling that AI-generated 'Italian brainrot' characters lack human authorship and cannot be copyrighted.
- Mementum Lab countersued for trademark infringement on behalf of the young creator of the character Tung Tung Sahur, seeking a share of commercial revenue.
- The case could set significant legal precedent regarding how much human input is required to secure intellectual property rights for AI-generated works.
Key facts
- Do Big Studios, creator of the popular Roblox title 'Steal a Brainrot', filed a lawsuit in California arguing that AI-generated characters like Tung Tung Sahur belong in the public domain because AI material lacks human authorship.[NPR]
- Mementum Lab countersued Do Big Studios for trademark infringement rather than direct copyright claims to seek damages for unauthorized character use while preserving international legal options.[NPR]
- The character Tung Tung Sahur was created by Indonesian artist Fernanda Bagas Indrastata ('Noxa') using seven text prompts in an AI image generator over 15 minutes.[NPR]
- The U.S. Copyright Office maintains that pure AI outputs lack authorship, but whether human contributions to AI-assisted outputs qualify for protection must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.[NPR]
What remains uncertain
- It remains unresolved whether prompting an AI image generator seven times constitutes sufficient human creative input to meet U.S. copyright originality thresholds.[NPR]
- The court has yet to determine whether Mementum's trademark infringement claim is a valid legal protection strategy or an inappropriate sidestepping of copyright standards.[NPR]