Hubei’s first AI short drama copyright infringement case was recently concluded at the Jiang’an District People’s Court of Wuhan. The court determined that the AI-assisted micro short drama at issue constituted an audiovisual work protected by copyright law, and for the first time included the computing power cost brought by token consumption in the damages consideration, sentencing the infringing party to pay 20,000 yuan in compensation.
Plaintiff Company A is a professional micro short drama creation and operation enterprise. In early 2026, it completed the 47-episode micro short drama “Yunshang XX” through AI-assisted creation, with a total duration of about one hour, and had completed filing in accordance with the law and publicly released it on various platforms. Only one day after the drama went online, Company A discovered that the WeChat Channels account operated by Company B had, without permission, directly copied all episodes in their entirety, altered the drama title, and profited by inserting commercial advertisements during playback of the episodes. Company A then filed a lawsuit, requesting an order to stop the infringement and compensate for losses.
The court held that although the short drama at issue used AI to generate images and voiceovers, the creators participated throughout the entire process of script planning, prompt setting, material selection, editing and arrangement, invested a large amount of substantive intellectual labor, and had foreseeability and control over the final expression. AI was merely a technical tool, so the short drama was determined to constitute an audiovisual work protected by copyright law. In determining damages, the court comprehensively considered the circumstances of the infringement and, for the first time, included considerations such as the computing power cost brought by token consumption and the cost of commercial tool licensing, and accordingly made the above judgment. (September 24, 2026, Jiang’an District People’s Court of Wuhan)
Plaintiff Company A is a professional micro short drama creation and operation enterprise. In early 2026, it completed the 47-episode micro short drama “Yunshang XX” through AI-assisted creation, with a total duration of about one hour, and had completed filing in accordance with the law and publicly released it on various platforms. Only one day after the drama went online, Company A discovered that the WeChat Channels account operated by Company B had, without permission, directly copied all episodes in their entirety, altered the drama title, and profited by inserting commercial advertisements during playback of the episodes. Company A then filed a lawsuit, requesting an order to stop the infringement and compensate for losses.
The court held that although the short drama at issue used AI to generate images and voiceovers, the creators participated throughout the entire process of script planning, prompt setting, material selection, editing and arrangement, invested a large amount of substantive intellectual labor, and had foreseeability and control over the final expression. AI was merely a technical tool, so the short drama was determined to constitute an audiovisual work protected by copyright law. In determining damages, the court comprehensively considered the circumstances of the infringement and, for the first time, included considerations such as the computing power cost brought by token consumption and the cost of commercial tool licensing, and accordingly made the above judgment. (September 24, 2026, Jiang’an District People’s Court of Wuhan)