Disney has formally demanded that ByteDance stop using its characters in Seedance 2.0, the TikTok owner's new AI video generator, in a cease-and-desist letter sent within days of the model's release. The letter, first reported by Axios, argues the tool was trained on Disney material and treats its franchises as if they were free for anyone to use.
According to the letter, Seedance comes with what Disney calls a "pirated library" of its assets, spanning Star Wars and Marvel among other properties. Its outside counsel at Jenner & Block described the conduct as willful and suggested the examples found so far were only the start, given how briefly the tool had been available.
Disney was not the only objector. Clips made with Seedance had already used Lord of the Rings imagery and the faces of stars including Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Will Smith, and a viral fake fight between Cruise and Pitt drew a demand from the Motion Picture Association that ByteDance halt the infringement. SAG-AFTRA separately said the model exploited members' voices and likenesses without consent.
The letter fits a pattern. Disney had sent similar warnings to Google, Meta and Character.AI, and is suing Midjourney and MiniMax alongside NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. At the same time it had struck a $1 billion deal with OpenAI to license characters to Sora, a sign the studio wants AI use on licensed terms rather than none at all.
Sources · 1