LOS ANGELES — Greenberg Glusker LLP is litigating a dispute at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and intellectual property that has gained national media attention. The matter, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is led by Litigation Partner Steve Stein along with Litigation Partner Gregg Martin and Litigation Associate Andrew Lux and centers on the rights of creators to protect and commercialize works that they created with the involvement of AI. Deadline, NPR, Puck and other publications recently have covered the matter.
Greenberg Glusker client Mementum Lab SAS represents the creators of the most popular "brainrot" characters in the world—surrealist and absurd characters that have become part of the fabric of online culture and are wildly popular with Gen Alpha and Gen Z—including the iconic character Tung Tung Sahur. The owners of the popular Roblox video game "Steal a Brainrot" used these characters commercially without permission. Mementum contends that these characters are protectible and is asserting a trademark infringement counterclaim against the owners of Steal a Brainrot in the lawsuit.
"This case is one front in a global fight that touches on a bigger issue: Can companies commercialize works that people create without getting their permission or providing them with compensation simply because those works were created with the involvement of AI? We think the answer is no." Stein told Deadline.