TL;DR

ByteDance has pledged to strengthen safeguards on its Seedance AI video tool after Disney accused it of supplying a “pirated library” of copyrighted characters. The Motion Picture Association, Sag-Aftra, and the Japanese government have also raised concerns about the platform.

Disney Sends Cease-and-Desist

Videos created using Seedance 2.0, launched on 12 February, quickly went viral. Many were lauded for their realism, but a significant number featured copyrighted characters — including Marvel superheroes, Star Wars characters, and popular anime figures — without authorisation.

Disney responded with a cease-and-desist letter accusing ByteDance of committing a “virtual smash-and-grab” of its intellectual property. The studio’s lawyers said the platform had been supplied with a pirated library of Disney’s copyrighted characters.

ByteDance told the BBC it “respects intellectual property rights” and is “taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users.” The company did not provide details on what those safeguards would involve. It had previously paused the ability for users to upload images of real people.

Industry-Wide Pushback

The backlash extends well beyond Disney. The Motion Picture Association, representing Warner Bros Discovery, Paramount, and Netflix, demanded that Seedance “immediately cease its infringing activity.” Actors’ union Sag-Aftra accused the platform of “blatant infringement.”

The Japanese government has launched its own investigation into ByteDance over potential copyright violations after AI-generated anime character videos appeared online.

This is not an isolated dispute. Last year, Disney and NBCUniversal sued AI image generator Midjourney for producing “endless unauthorised copies” of copyrighted works. That case is ongoing. Disney has also asked Google to restrict generation of its characters on Google’s AI platforms.

Looking Forward

ByteDance has not disclosed what data it uses to train Seedance, a question that will only grow more pressing as legal challenges mount. The speed at which Seedance 2.0 generated copyrighted content — within days of launch — suggests that content filtering and IP protection remain afterthoughts in the race to ship AI video tools.