Disney Hits ByteDance With Cease-and-Desist, Claiming Seedance AI Tool Is ‘Hijacking’ Trademarked Characters
Disney sent ByteDance a cease-and-desist letter over its new Seedance 2.0 generative AI video tool on Friday, claiming the Chinese owner of TikTok infringed on its creative property to train the new model.
In the letter first reviewed and reported by Axios, Disney accuses ByteDance of manipulating its copyrighted Disney characters as if they were in the public domain The letter further claims Seedance 2.0 includes a “pirated library” full of Disney assets from its biggest franchises — from Star Wars to Marvel superhero films.
“Over Disney’s well-publicized objections, ByteDance is hijacking Disney’s characters by reproducing, distributing and creating derivative works featuring those characters,” Disney’s attorney David Singer of Jenner & Block LLC wrote. “ByteDance’s virtual smash-and-grab of Disney’s IP is willful, pervasive and totally unacceptable.”
The letter continued: “We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg – which is shocking considering Seedance has only been available for a few days.”
The generative AI model, released this week by ByteDance, has triggered a wave of industry backlash. In addition to Disney properties, the tool has also generated videos using “The Lord of the Rings” assets and the likenesses of A-list Hollywood stars such as Will Smith, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.
SAG-AFTRA and the MPA have both issued their own statements speaking out against Seedance 2.0 since it dropped.
“SAG-AFTRA stands with the studios in condemning the blatant infringement enabled by ByteDance’s new A.I. video model Seedance 2.0,” a spokesperson for the actors’ union said in a statement. “The infringement includes the unauthorized use of our members’ voices and likenesses. This is unacceptable and undercuts the ability of human talent to earn a livelihood. Seedance 2.0 disregards law, ethics, industry standards and basic principles of consent. Responsible A.I. development demands responsibility, and that is nonexistent here.”
The Motion Picture Association slammed Seedance 2.0 on Thursday in response to an AI-generated fight scene between Pitt and Cruise, accusing the company of “disregarding” copyright laws and calling on them to “cease its infringing activity.”
“In a single day, the Chinese AI service Seedance 2.0 has engaged in unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted works on a massive scale,” Charles Rivkin, chairman and CEO of the MPA, said in their statement. “By launching a service that operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement, ByteDance is disregarding well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and underpins millions of American jobs. ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity.”
ByteDance is not the first tech and AI company to receive a cease-and-desist letter from Disney. In December, Disney sent a letter to Google accusing the tech giant of copyright infringement on a “massive scale.” The company argued that Google is leveraging its dominance in generative AI to “commercially exploit and distribute” infringing images and videos featuring Disney-owned characters.
The move followed similar cease-and-desist letters Disney sent to Meta and Character.AI, and came as the company joins NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery in litigation against Midjourney and MiniMax.
At the same time, Disney has embraced AI, taking a $1 billion stake in OpenAI and planning to license its characters to OpenAI’s Sora video platform in early 2026. Those characters — though not the actors who portray or voice them — will also be available for ChatGPT’s image-generation tools, with curated Sora-generated videos set to stream on Disney+ and OpenAI helping power new features across the service.
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