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Disney Clashes With ByteDance Over AI Copyright
15 Feb
Summary
- Disney alleges ByteDance's Seedance AI used copyrighted characters.
- A cease-and-desist letter was sent to ByteDance by Disney.
- This follows similar legal actions against other AI companies.
The Walt Disney Company has initiated legal action against ByteDance, the creator of the recently launched generative AI tool Seedance 2.0. Disney has issued a cease-and-desist letter, alleging that ByteDance developed Seedance using a pirated library of Disney's copyrighted characters. This alleged infringement involves intellectual property from popular franchises like Star Wars and Marvel.
The cease-and-desist letter, obtained by Axios, reportedly includes examples of Seedance videos that feature copyrighted Disney characters. Despite Seedance 2.0's recent release and its recognition for AI-generating capabilities, it has quickly drawn criticism from Hollywood studios.
This is not Disney's first foray into legal disputes with AI companies over copyright. In September, Disney sent a similar letter to Character.AI for the same offense. More recently, Disney accused Google of copyright infringement related to AI model training. However, Disney has also engaged in partnerships, such as a three-year licensing agreement with OpenAI.
