Google sued by Autodesk over AI-powered movie-making software

By Jonathan Stempel

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Google has been sued by Autodesk for allegedly infringing its "Flow" trademark to marketplace competing AI-enabled bundle ​used to marque movies, TV shows and video games.

In a ailment ‌filed connected Friday successful San Francisco national court, Autodesk said it began utilizing Flow successful ‌September 2022 for ocular effects, accumulation absorption and different products, and was amazed erstwhile Google launched Flow bundle successful May 2025 aimed astatine the aforesaid customers.

Autodesk said Google assured it would not commercialize Flow, yet applied that period to ⁠trademark the word successful ‌the Kingdom of Tonga successful the South Pacific, wherever applications are not mostly disposable to the public.

The ailment said Google ‍used the Tonga exertion to question akin trademark extortion for Flow successful the U.S., and has marketed Flow astatine manufacture events including the Sundance Film Festival.

"Google’s mendacious ​representation that it would ever usage a operation of its location people ‌and Flow was intended to bargain clip to let it to swamp Autodesk’s spot successful the market," the ailment said. "Despite the occurrence of Autodesk’s Flow products, the overmuch larger Google volition apt overwhelm the Autodesk Flow products and Flow marks."

The marketplace worth of San Francisco-based Autodesk was astir $51 cardinal ⁠on Friday, portion the marketplace worth of Mountain ​View, California-based Google's genitor Alphabet was astir $3.9 ​trillion.

Google had nary contiguous remark connected Monday.

Autodesk is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for the user disorder and alleged irreparable ‍harm Google caused.

"We ⁠remain committed to protecting our innovations and ensuring just contention successful the planetary marketplace," Autodesk said successful a statement.

Last month, Autodesk said it ⁠would chopped astir 1,000 jobs, oregon 7% of its workforce, arsenic it shifts spending ‌to its unreality level and artificial intelligence.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel successful ‌New York; Editing by Mark Porter)