HoYoverse won $112,000 in a lawsuit against an AI company that copied voices and character designs from Genshin Impact

Another company developing generative AI models has run into the harsh reality of copyright law. This time, an unnamed "AI company" lost in a Shanghai court after illegally copying character voices from Genshin Impact. HoYoverse came out on top, winning a $112,000 award.

The court found that the company created and sold voice packs based on the voice acting of 63 Genshin Impact characters. According to the ruling, the voices in these packs had "nearly identical characteristics" to the original in-game recordings. The infringer also used slightly altered images of the game characters to promote the product, which the court recognized as an additional act of unfair competition.

Judges noted that the infringement affected not just the protected content of the game itself, but also the character designs, the rights to which belong to HoYoverse. Based on available information, the voice packs weren't just made for fans to enjoy – they let users turn slightly modified Genshin Impact characters into their own virtual AI companions that mimicked real conversation.

The final compensation amount ended up noticeably smaller than what HoYoverse originally hoped for. The company initially sought 5 million Chinese yuan, equivalent to roughly $745,000, along with an immediate injunction against the infringer operations. In the end, the court only partially granted the claims, awarding compensation of 750,000 yuan, about $112,000.

That said, the court fully backed the demand to stop the infringement – the AI company was ordered to immediately halt any further production and distribution of the disputed voice packs. The defendant initially tried to appeal the ruling, but later withdrew the appeal, making the payout to HoYoverse final and unavoidable.

The case marks another example of how game developers and other rights holders are increasingly stepping up to protect their intellectual property from unauthorized use by neural networks. Game character voices and likenesses remain subject to copyright just like graphics or story content, and courts are backing that up in practice more and more often.