Disney sends cease and desist letter to ByteDance for unauthorized use of characters in 'Seedance 2.0'



It has been revealed that Disney has sent a cease and desist letter to ByteDance, a major Chinese technology company known as the operator of TikTok, regarding Seedance 2.0 , a video generation AI announced by ByteDance in February 2026, alleging that the AI was using Disney copyrighted material without permission for training.

Disney sends cease and desist letter to ByteDance over Seedance 2.0
https://www.axios.com/2026/02/13/disney-bytedance-seedance



Seedance 2.0 is a video generation AI that can input not only text but also up to nine images and up to three videos, and can be run on ByteDance's generative AI service, 'JiMeng AI.' It has also been reported that the stock prices of Chinese media companies and game developers have risen due to the view that Seedance 2.0 will bring great benefits to video production.

TikTok developer announces video generation AI 'Seedance 2.0,' allowing users to input up to nine images and up to three videos as reference material - GIGAZINE



A copy of the letter obtained by Axios , an American news media outlet, revealed that Disney sent a cease and desist letter to ByteDance on February 13, 2026, citing serious copyright infringement in Seedance 2.0.

According to Axios, in a letter to ByteDance's global general counsel, John Rogovin, Disney accused ByteDance of 'packaging its pirated library of Star Wars, Marvel, and other Disney-copyrighted characters as training data, as if Disney's intellectual property were free and in the public domain.' Disney's outside counsel, David Singer, wrote, 'ByteDance's intellectual property theft is deliberate, widespread, and completely unacceptable.'

The letter cites several examples of movies featuring characters like Spider-Man and Darth Vader generated by Seedance 2.0.

On December 11, 2025, Disney and OpenAI signed an agreement to allow Disney-branded characters to appear in the video generation AI, Sora, allowing users to create and share videos using characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and other brands, excluding actor likenesses and voices. As part of the licensing agreement, Disney invested $1 billion (approximately 160 billion yen) in OpenAI. The licensing agreement is valid for three years, but the exclusivity period is only one year, meaning that other AI companies may enter into similar agreements after one year . Meanwhile, as part of this exclusivity agreement, Disney has taken an aggressive stance against copyright infringement, demanding that Google remove all videos generated by Google's AI that include Disney characters.

Disney invests 160 billion yen in OpenAI, enabling the generation of Disney characters with Sora and ChatGPT - GIGAZINE



In addition, on February 13, 2026, Charles Rivkin, president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) , issued a statement calling for ByteDance to 'immediately cease its copyright infringement activities.' The Human Artistry Campaign, a coalition of dozens of creative organizations including the Directors Guild of America , also stated that 'authorities should use all legal means to stop this massive theft.' Voices of criticism against ByteDance and Seedance 2.0 have also been raised in Hollywood.




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