US court hears case over AI-generated meme’s ownership rights
Noxa, an Indonesian teen, created Tung Tung Tung Sahur (Triple T) in 2025 using OpenAI’s image generator, sparking a legal battle over who owns the meme’s rights. The character, an anthropomorphized drum, became a global sensation with billions of views on YouTube and TikTok, appearing in games, cosplay, and merchandise. Mementum, a French agency representing Noxa, sued Spyder Games LLC and…
Key points
- Noxa, an Indonesian teen, created *Tung Tung Tung Sahur* in 2025 using OpenAI’s image generator, sparking a lawsuit over ownership rights
- Mementum (French agency) sued Do Big Studios for using the meme in a Roblox game, arguing AI-assisted work can qualify for copyright
- US copyright law requires human authorship, but the case tests whether sparse AI prompts (e.g., seven prompts over 15 minutes) suffice
Who owns ‘brain rot’?: inside the international legal drama over a beloved meme
The Guardian AI · 6 October 2026
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