intellectual property

China’s top robot dog maker built on US Army research

China's Unitree Robotics based designs for its most successful robot dogs on innovations funded by the U.S. military, according to a Reuters investigation published Tuesday that detailed for the first time the connections between U.S. Army research and the Chinese…

China revises chip design rules to bolster IP protection

China on Monday unveiled revised regulations governing integrated circuit layout designs, tightening registration standards and introducing punitive damages for serious infringement as Beijing moves to strengthen protections for domestic semiconductor intellectual property.

Alibaba faces securities fraud probe amid AI distillation fallout

Anthropic has accused Alibaba of running the largest known campaign to extract capabilities from its Claude AI model, an allegation that has wiped roughly a quarter of Alibaba's market value and drawn the attention of securities fraud investigators.

Moonshot AI releases Kimi K3 open weights amid U.S. IP theft accusations

Moonshot AI made the full weights of its Kimi K3 model available for public download on Sunday, delivering on a pledge to open-source the 2.8-trillion-parameter system — the largest AI model ever released for free use — just as Washington…

China surpasses US in fintech patent filings, Nikkei finds

China has surpassed the United States to become the world leader in financial technology patent filings over the past decade, according to an analysis by Nikkei published on Monday. The shift marks another milestone in China's broader push to dominate…

Alibaba to ban Claude Code over alleged backdoor risk

Alibaba will prohibit employees from using Anthropic's Claude Code in workplace environments starting July 10, citing security concerns over what it described as embedded backdoor risks in the AI coding assistant, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Disney, NYT and Adobe back new AI content coalition

Former Netflix and Warner Bros. executive Victoria Furniss has launched the Alliance for Responsible Innovation in the Arts & Media (ARIAM), a new coalition aimed at shaping how artificial intelligence is developed and deployed across the creative industries. Disney, The…

Netflix threatens to sue ByteDance over Seedance AI tool

Netflix has issued an ultimatum to ByteDance, threatening "immediate litigation" over the company's Seedance 2.0 AI video generator and becoming the first Hollywood studio to explicitly put legal action on the table in the escalating copyright battle.

Japan’s TBS buys $150M stake in Dune studio Legendary

Legendary Entertainment, the Hollywood studio behind blockbusters "Dune" and "A Minecraft Movie," has formed a strategic partnership with Tokyo-based broadcaster TBS Holdings Inc., marking another significant step in the studio's international expansion efforts.

Former Disney animators revolt over OpenAI partnership

Disney The Walt Disney Company is facing mounting criticism from its creative community following last week's announcement of a $1 billion partnership with OpenAI, with prominent creators calling for boycotts and expressing fears about the future of human artistry in…

ElevenLabs partners with McConaughey, Caine for AI voice cloning

AI audio company ElevenLabs announced partnerships with actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine on November 11, 2025, allowing the company to create digital replicas of their voices at a time when unauthorized AI voice cloning has sparked widespread controversy in…

Miyamoto says Nintendo embraces films for permanence

Nintendo's legendary game creator Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed the philosophy driving the company's aggressive expansion into filmmaking, offering a striking rationale for why the gaming giant is betting big on Hollywood adaptations of its beloved franchises.

Disney secures film rights to ‘Impossible Creatures’

Walt Disney Studios The Walt Disney Company has secured the film rights to Katherine Rundell's fantasy book series "Impossible Creatures" in a substantial seven-figure deal, the company announced Tuesday, beating Netflix and Warner Bros. in a competitive bidding war for…

Disney owes $600K for stolen motion-capture tech in Beast film

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today reversed a lower court ruling and reinstated a $600,000 jury verdict against Walt Disney The Walt Disney Company, finding the entertainment giant vicariously infringed on motion-capture technology used in its 2017 live-action…

Sony CEO regrets selling Netflix’s biggest hit ever

Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Ravi Ahuja expressed cautious reflections on the studio's decision to sell "KPop Demon Hunters" to Netflix NFLX, even as the animated musical shattered viewing records to become the streaming platform's most-watched title of all time. The…

Mexico accuses Adidas of stealing Indigenous sandal design

Mexican authorities have accused Adidas of cultural appropriation over a new sandal design that closely resembles traditional Indigenous footwear, with President Claudia Sheinbaum announcing Friday that the company is already in talks to provide compensation to affected communities.

Johns Hopkins becomes latest academic press to license books for AI training

Johns Hopkins University Press has announced it will license its extensive book catalog to train artificial intelligence models, becoming the latest academic publisher to enter the contentious AI copyright debate amid financial pressures in higher education. Authors were given until…

Court tosses $9M Bored Ape judgment but affirms trademark protection for NFTs

The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a $9 million judgment that favored Yuga Labs in its trademark dispute with artist Ryder Ripps and business partner Jeremy Cahen, dealing a setback to the creator of the Bored Ape…

Morgan Weistling calls out DHS for using painting without permission

Christian artist Morgan Weistling has publicly condemned the Department of Homeland Security for allegedly using his painting "A Prayer for a New Life" without permission in a social media post that retitled the artwork as "Homeland's Heritage" with the caption…

Prada admits sandals were ‘inspired by’ Indian craft

Italian luxury fashion house Prada acknowledged this weekend that sandals featured in its recent Milan Fashion Week show were "inspired by traditional Indian handcrafted footwear," following days of backlash from Indian artisans and officials who accused the brand of cultural…