Shanghai Huangpu district people’s court: AI prompts not copyrightable

A recent decision of the Shanghai Huangpu District People’s Court provides an early indication of how Chinese courts may treat AI-related inputs from an IP perspective. In case (2025) 沪0101民初14775号, the court examined whether detailed text prompts used with the Midjourney image-generation platform could themselves be protected by copyright.

The plaintiff had prepared six sets of English-language prompts describing Art Nouveau-style illustrations of fantasy natural subjects – including jellyfish, butterflies, gem trees, mushrooms, and koi fish – in the style of Alphonse Mucha, presented as hand-drawn manuscripts on papyrus with a biological encyclopedia layout, and entered them into Midjourney via the account “BYShanC.” Nearly identical images later appeared on a Xiaohongshu account operated by the defendants, and further investigation showed that another Midjourney account (“UNI2T”) had used prompts identical to the plaintiff’s to generate similar images. The court held that the prompts did not qualify as copyrightable works, meaning they could not be enforced as independent copyrighted content against other users who reused or copied them.

For businesses relying on generative AI tools, the decision suggests that copyright in prompts alone is unlikely to provide sufficient protection in China, and that a combination of contractual arrangements and other IP rights may be needed to safeguard AI-related assets.

Source:
https://www.chinaiplawupdate.com/2026/03/shanghai-huangpu-district-peoples-court-ai-prompts-not-copyrightable/ (English)