Do Big Studios AI image incident — Oct 2026

A legal battle is unfolding in a Californian federal court between a French agency and a game developer over the unauthorized use of an AI-generated character in a Roblox game. The case centers on the character Tung Tung Tung Sahur, an anthropomorphic wooden drum created by an Indonesian teenager using OpenAI’s image generator.

What happened

The character Tung Tung Tung Sahur, which gained international fame as part of an internet phenomenon, is represented by the French agency Mementum. In September 2025, Mementum issued a demand to Do Big Studios, the developers of the Roblox game Steal a Brainrot, to cease the use of the character. While Do Big Studios initially removed the character and attempted to negotiate, the situation escalated into a lawsuit filed by the studio against Mementum in a Californian federal court.

The core of the dispute involves the eligibility of AI-generated content for copyright protection under U.S. law. Current regulations generally protect only human-made creations, and a 2025 U.S. Copyright Office report affirmed that purely AI-generated work is typically ineligible for copyright. However, the report noted potential ambiguity if substantial human creativity is involved. The character in question was produced using seven prompts over 15 minutes, raising significant questions regarding whether this level of human input qualifies for legal protection. The outcome of this case is expected to have profound implications for creative professionals and the broader legal landscape surrounding AI-generated intellectual property.