Who owns ‘brain rot’?: inside the international legal drama over a beloved meme
Summary
An Indonesian teen created a popular AI-generated character called Tung Tung Tung Sahur (Triple T) using OpenAI’s image tool. Now, a legal fight is happening in a US court over who owns the rights to use this character in a Roblox game, raising questions about copyrights and AI-created art.Key Facts
- Tung Tung Tung Sahur (Triple T) was created in 2025 by an Indonesian teen named Noxa using an AI image generator.
- Triple T is based on a traditional Southeast Asian drum called kentongan and became famous in “Italian brain rot” meme videos.
- The character became popular worldwide on YouTube, TikTok, in fan art, merchandise, and will appear as a Fortnite game skin.
- A US lawsuit involves a game company suing a French agency (Mementum), which represents Noxa, over rights to Triple T in a Roblox game.
- One side says AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted because current US law protects only human-made works.
- Others argue the meme and character should be shared among many creators who helped make it popular.
- The case highlights challenges in deciding who owns AI-created work and what counts as “human authorship” under copyright law.
- Internet videos like those in the “brain rot” genre feature many strange AI-generated characters loved by young audiences worldwide.
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