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Minxiao Chang

Chinese artificial intelligence company MiniMax has open-sourced its new H3 video model but imposed licensing conditions on users in major overseas markets including the US and European Union, underscoring the copyright challenges in generative video AI.
After the Shanghai-based company released the model’s weights to developers on Monday, users found that the licence restricted free access in the US, EU, UK and South Korea.
The weights – the underlying parameters that encode its intelligence – allow developers to use, copy, modify and distribute the software without paying MiniMax.
To ensure compliance, developers in major markets must “apply for a formal licence”, the company said.
MiniMax said that once it had reviewed deployment scenarios and confirmed that appropriate compliance controls and safeguards were in place, it could authorise usage.
Access via application programming interface – a paid subscription through the firm’s website or authorised third parties – remained globally available, it said.
MiniMax said the regional carve-out was due to regulatory uncertainties and ongoing copyright-related legal proceedings.


In the US, the restriction was linked to “ongoing generative video copyright litigation with major Hollywood studios”, according to Ryan Lee, head of developer relations at MiniMax, who posted the statement on X on Monday.
Open-source video models have become a new battleground in generative AI, with Chinese developers racing to compete with US rivals by offering models that can be customised and deployed locally.
MiniMax’s H3 model, touted for advanced video generation capabilities and broad hardware compatibility, can generate videos of up to 15 seconds at 2K resolution, at 13 US cents per second.
According to benchmark platform Artificial Analysis, the model topped the video-editing chart while ranking second in text-to-video capabilities, behind Google’s Gemini Omni Flash. The Google model costs 1 US cent per second, but it is limited to 10-second clips.
The licensing requirement comes as generative AI companies face mounting copyright disputes with content owners over the use of protected works in training and AI-generated outputs.
In June, Walt Disney and NBCUniversal filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, a San Francisco-based research lab, alleging that its AI service of the same name generated unauthorised versions of copyrighted characters, including those from Star Wars, Marvel and other franchises.
Chinese firm ByteDance earlier this year sparked copyright backlash across Hollywood after launching Seedance 2.0. On Friday, it rolled out the updated Seedance 2.5 model, boasting its ability to create 30-second videos in a single run, though it is not open-sourced.


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H3 model enters the generative video battleground, but licensing carve-outs restrict use in US, EU, UK and South Korea


H3 model enters the generative video battleground, but licensing carve-outs restrict use in US, EU, UK and South Korea.


China’s MiniMax curbs overseas access to new AI video model over copyright disputes

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}H3 model enters the generative video battleground, but licensing carve-outs restrict use in US, EU, UK and South Korea

H3 model enters the generative video battleground, but licensing carve-outs restrict use in US, EU, UK and South Korea