A legal battle is set to commence between Chinese trendy toy leader POP MART and 3D printing unicorn Bambu Lab over copyright infringement allegations. The case is scheduled for a court hearing on April 2nd.

The dispute originates from Bambu Lab's MakerWorld, the world's largest 3D model community by monthly active users. The platform had been host to a significant number of user-uploaded, unauthorized 3D print models of "LABUBU." LABUBU is a flagship intellectual property (IP) owned by POP MART and holds substantial commercial value. The widespread distribution of these unauthorized models is alleged to directly infringe upon POP MART's IP copyright, leading to the lawsuit.

MakerWorld has since promptly removed all models related to the IP in question.

Even before the trial begins, the two companies are already in a sharp disagreement over whether any pre-litigation communication occurred. On the afternoon of March 9th, a report cited unnamed sources claiming that Bambu Lab did not receive any communication from POP MART prior to being sued.

However, POP MART provided a completely different account. A source close to POP MART confirmed that its legal team had formally contacted Bambu Lab on two separate occasions, in May and October 2025, to address the platform infringement issues before ultimately proceeding with legal action. When asked to verify the existence of these communications, Bambu Lab had not provided an official response by the time of reporting.

The nature of pre-litigation communication is considered a significant factor. A legal professional noted that it is important to distinguish whether the communication was a friendly negotiation or a formal legal notice. Regardless, if a platform is aware of infringing activity but fails to take timely action to stop it, potentially allowing the situation to worsen, it could face increased liability under the law.

This dispute not only concerns specific copyright ownership but also highlights the compliance challenges faced by user-generated content (UGC) platforms, particularly in the 3D printing sector, regarding their content ecosystems. Attention is now focused on whether the parties will reach a settlement and the potential methods for doing so.