Disney Sends Cease‑And‑Desist Letter to ByteDance Over Use of Disney Characters in Seedance AI Tool
Key Points
- Disney sent a cease‑and‑desist letter to ByteDance over the AI tool Seedance 2.0.
- The letter alleges Seedance was trained using a pirated library of Disney characters.
- Examples cited include AI‑generated videos featuring Spider‑Man, Darth Vader, and Peter Griffin.
- Disney has previously challenged Character.AI and Google for similar copyright concerns.
- The studio maintains a licensing partnership with OpenAI for authorized use of its IP.
- The dispute reflects broader industry tension between AI development and copyright law.
The Walt Disney Company has issued a cease‑and‑desist letter to ByteDance, alleging that the company’s new generative‑AI tool, Seedance 2.0, incorporates Disney’s copyrighted characters without permission. Disney claims the AI model was trained on a “pirated library” of its intellectual property, citing examples that feature characters such as Spider‑Man, Darth Vader, and Peter Griffin. The dispute adds to a growing series of legal confrontations between Hollywood studios and AI developers, following earlier actions against Character.AI and Google, while Disney maintains a licensing partnership with OpenAI for the use of its content.
Disney Accuses ByteDance of Copyright Infringement
The Walt Disney Company has taken legal action against Chinese technology firm ByteDance, alleging that the firm’s newly released generative‑AI tool, Seedance 2.0, uses Disney’s copyrighted characters without authorization. According to a cease‑and‑desist letter obtained by a news outlet, Disney contends that ByteDance developed Seedance with a “pirated library of Disney's copyrighted characters from Star Wars, Marvel, and other Disney franchises, as if Disney's coveted intellectual property were free public domain clip art.” The letter includes examples of Seedance‑generated videos that display well‑known Disney‑related characters, including Spider‑Man, Darth Vader, and Peter Griffin.
ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 has quickly drawn both praise for its AI‑generated content capabilities and criticism from major media owners who view the technology as a potential threat to traditional copyright protections. Disney’s move marks another high‑profile challenge to an AI developer, reinforcing the studio’s broader strategy of defending its intellectual property against what it perceives as unlawful use.
Previous Legal Actions and Industry Context
This is not Disney’s first foray into legal battles over AI‑generated content. Earlier, the studio sent a cease‑and‑desist notice to Character.AI for similar alleged misuse of Disney characters. In a subsequent episode, Disney also accused Google of infringing its copyrights while training its own AI models. These actions illustrate an emerging pattern of media companies confronting AI firms over the training and deployment of models that incorporate copyrighted material.
Despite these confrontations, Disney maintains a licensing relationship with OpenAI, allowing the AI company to generate images and videos that incorporate Disney’s intellectual property under agreed‑upon terms. This partnership demonstrates Disney’s willingness to engage with AI technology on a commercial basis, provided that proper licensing and compensation are secured.
Implications for the AI Industry
The dispute highlights the tension between rapid AI innovation and established copyright law. As generative‑AI tools become more sophisticated, they increasingly rely on large datasets that may contain protected works. Companies like ByteDance argue that such usage falls under fair practices, while studios like Disney maintain that unauthorized replication of their characters constitutes clear infringement.
Legal experts suggest that the outcome of Disney’s cease‑and‑desist could set a precedent for how courts interpret copyright protections in the context of AI training data. The case may also influence how AI developers source and curate their training datasets, potentially prompting more rigorous licensing arrangements or the development of new compliance frameworks.
For now, Disney’s letter to ByteDance underscores the studio’s commitment to protecting its creative assets and signals to the broader AI community that the company will pursue legal remedies when it believes its rights have been violated.