ByteDance reportedly is vowing to comply.
The release of the revolutionary Seedance 2.0 AI video generator has sent Hollywood into a frenzy, with the Motion Picture Association and several class organizations firing on all cylinders against the Chinese company ByteDance.
Now, Disney has gone one step further and sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, accusing it of ‘using Disney characters to train and power the AI generator without permission’.
Scoop: Disney sends cease and desist letter to ByteDance over Seedance 2.0 https://t.co/P6Bgah1jdz
— Axios (@axios) February 13, 2026
At this point we’ll be able to use Seedance to fix Star Wars after Disney ruined it.pic.twitter.com/lMRnYR4EhU
— Mark Gadala-Maria (@markgadala) February 14, 2026
Reuters reported:
“Disney said ByteDance had pre‑packaged Seedance with a pirated library of copyrighted characters from franchises including Star Wars and Marvel, portraying them as if they were public-domain clip art, the person said.
The letter alleges Seedance is reproducing, distributing and creating derivative works featuring Spider-Man, Darth Vader, and other characters, the person added.”
disney’s legal team is at my door
Seedance 2.0 is impressive
Even those movements scream pixar animation pic.twitter.com/xURFjKXLpA— perfect (@perfectonator) February 10, 2026
ByteDance has stated that it will strengthen the safeguards on Seedance 2.0 to ‘prevent the unauthorized use of copyrighted characters and celebrity likenesses’.
“Online news outlet Axios was the first to report on Disney’s move. Paramount Skydance has also sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, accusing the Chinese firm of engaging in ‘blatant infringement’ of its intellectual property, Variety reported at the weekend.”
Just tried Seedance 2.0 and holy smokes 🤯
This isn’t just video generation – it’s full cinematic direction from a single prompt.
Will Smith fighting spaghetti monsters? Michael Jackson stealing burgers? Disney-style wolf adventures?
All from text. No editing software needed.… pic.twitter.com/4KSMtgPddB
— EK (@ekcheungAI) February 15, 2026
The AI model is earning praise for producing cinematic storylines with just a few prompts.
“In December, Disney signed a licensing deal with OpenAI, letting the startup use characters from Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel franchises in its Sora video generator.”
Is Disney cooked for real?
How much time and money do you think it would have taken a team to do this the traditional way of working/animating?
Because now you can do it in 5 minutes by giving an AI a simple prompt
(Seedance 2.0) 🤯 pic.twitter.com/4OZ1TtUenE
— Linus ✦ Ekenstam (@LinusEkenstam) February 11, 2026
ByteDance said it would curb unauthorized use of intellectual property on its Seedance 2.0 AI video generator after US studios including Disney threatened legal action over alleged use of Disney characters without permission https://t.co/gU3GDNPTjr pic.twitter.com/3lnCxB70oD
— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) February 16, 2026
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