In its latest legal challenge, 3D printer manufacturer Bambu Lab has been sued by Chinese toymaker Pop Mart over copyright infringement claims tied to knockoff Labubu files that were uploaded to Bambu Lab’s file-sharing platform MakerWorld.
The suit was filed at the People’s Court of Pudong New Area in Shanghai, with the trial scheduled for April 2nd, 2026.
According to World Journal, the case names Bambu Lab, registered in China as Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co., Ltd., along with two subsidiaries, Shenzhen Maker World Technology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Outline Technology Co., Ltd. The complaint centers on several Labubu 3D model files that users had uploaded and shared freely on MakerWorld.
The 3D printer manufacturer did not create or upload any of the infringing files. Pop Mart is nonetheless seeking to hold the platform itself legally responsible for what its users uploaded on the platform, a legal argument that, if it succeeds, could fundamentally shift how 3D printing platforms manage and moderate user content going forward.
The Scope of the Dispute
Looking at this case, the commercial stakes are significant. Reportedly, Labubu accounted for more than 30% of the toymaker’s total sales revenue in 2025, and Chinese customs authorities seized 1.83 million counterfeit Labubu products that same year.
For its part, MakerWorld is no minor platform either. Launched in 2023 by Bambu Lab, MakerWorld has grown into one of the world’s largest 3D model sharing community by monthly active users, hosting over one million models and serving nearly 10 million monthly active users.
In response to the lawsuit, Bambu Lab moved to pull all Labubu-related files from MakerWorld. The sweep, however, was not clean. An operational error caught a wide range of unrelated files in the removal, including printer modifications, cable clips, paint brush holders, and locksmithing tools.
The 3D printer manufacturer acknowledged the mistake publicly, and confirmed that most of the affected models had since been restored. Users whose files remain missing were directed to submit a support ticket.
What makes the timing particularly pointed is that Bambu Lab had only recently launched a Creator Copyright Protection Service, designed to help designers report when their models are stolen and uploaded to other platforms without permission. Simply put, the company finds itself defending against the very category of complaint its own new tool was built to address.
According to AM Insight Asia, the legal core of the case is whether a 3D model sharing platform can be held liable for copyright infringement committed by its users. Pop Mart’s legal representatives are reported to argue that Bambu Lab violated its reproduction, distribution, and information network dissemination rights over the Labubu character.
Bambu Lab is widely expected to invoke the safe harbor principle in its defense, the legal doctrine under which platform operators are shielded from liability if they were unaware of infringing content or acted swiftly to remove it upon notification.
However, it also notes that because Bambu Lab only removed the content after the lawsuit was filed rather than proactively, that defense may face scrutiny, particularly given that Labubu was one of the most commercially visible IPs in China in 2025 and MakerWorld operates at a scale of nearly 10 million monthly active users.
The case is currently contained within the Chinese legal system and no equivalent action has been filed against Western platforms, where knockoff Labubu files remain openly available on Printables, Thangs, Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory, and Cults, according to tom’s Hardware.
The Tightening Grip of IP Enforcement
As 3D printing adoption has grown, so have questions around IP rights, with experts increasingly warning both industry players and individual makers of the infringement risks the technology carries.
Enforcement has been tightening for years, with rights holders increasingly targeting not just commercial infringers but free, non-commercial fan content as well. In 2019, LEGO issued takedown notices against individual designers and platforms including MyMiniFactory over minifigure fan art that was shared, drawing widespread community backlash.
Even the 3DBenchy, a community staple used to benchmark printer performance, saw its derivatives pulled from Prusa Research’s Printables platform after a third-party report citing license violations, which coincided with a change in ownership of the model’s IP rights in 2024. The new IP owner NTI Group subsequently collaborated with the original designers to release 3DBenchy into the public domain under a CC0 license, permitting unrestricted remixing and distribution.
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Featured image shows a screenshot of Labubu models for 3D printing on Printables. Image via Printables.
