ByteDance AI video tool Seedance accused by Disney of copyright ‘smash and grab’

byVerified News Online

AdvertisementArtificial intelligenceTechBig TechByteDance AI video tool Seedance accused by Disney of copyright ‘smash and grab’

Governments also attack Seedance for violations, but the controversy could just be a PR strategy, one analyst says

Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMP

Characters from Star Wars, a Disney property, are among the copyrighted material the Seedance tool can purportedly produce. Photo: Reuters

Vincent ChowByteDance’s latest video generation model Seedance 2.0 has blown people away for its ability to rapidly generate lifelike videos, but is also receiving blowback globally for alleged intellectual property (IP) violations.The controversy focuses on TikTok-owner ByteDance’s alleged use of copyrighted content to train its artificial intelligence model, as videos of Hollywood celebrities, Disney characters and comic book heroes generated by Seedance have flooded the web in recent days.

On Saturday, Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter accusing ByteDance of a “virtual smash-and-grab of Disney’s IP”, as its new model can purportedly generate videos of Disney-owned characters from the Marvel and Star Wars universes, a source told the South China Morning Post.

AdvertisementThe legal action came after criticism of the new model from major Hollywood bodies, with actors’ union SAG-AFTRA accusing the model of “blatant infringement” and the Motion Picture Association’s CEO Charles Rivkin calling for ByteDance to “immediately cease its infringing activity”. The union, the association and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Disney sent a similar cease and desist letter to Google in December, which prompted the US tech giant to restrict the generation of Disney-owned characters in its Nano Banana and Gemini AI services.

Advertisement

Foreign governments have also raised concerns. On Friday, Japan’s cabinet office launched an investigation into ByteDance over potential copyright violations after AI-generated videos featuring well-known Japanese manga and anime characters, including Detective Conan and Ultraman, proliferated on social media.

AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed0.8×0.9×1.0x1.1×1.2×1.5×1.75x1.00x

Related Posts

Baidu chip unit Kunlunxin files for Hong Kong IPO amid China’s push for tech self-reliance

AdvertisementHong KongChina Future TechSemiconductorsBaidu chip unit Kunlunxin files for Hong Kong IPO amid China’s push for tech self-relianceLast year, 20 Chinese semiconductor IPOs raised over 45 billion yuan (US$6.4 billion), with six of them listing in December
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPThemis QiPublished: 12:50pm, 2 Jan 2026Baidu’s artificial intelligence chip subsidiary Kunlunxin (Beijing) Technology has confidentially applied for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, as the search and AI giant becomes the latest to join an investment frenzy amid China’s drive for tech self-reliance.
The Kunlunxin prospectus was submitted on Thursday but details such as the size and structure of the IPO had not yet been finalised, Baidu said in a statement on Friday.
Baidu’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose 7.5 per cent to HK$141.30 as of the noon trading break.Advertisement“The US tech blockade has made it even more urgent for China to move quickly up the value chain, bui..

Fate of South Korea’s Han Duck-soo to set tone for Yoon, others in martial law trial

AdvertisementSouth KoreaThis Week in AsiaPeopleFate of South Korea’s Han Duck-soo to set tone for Yoon, others in martial law trialThe former prime minister will be the first of those linked to the decree to be sentenced. The prosecution has asked for 15 years’ jail
Reading Time:4 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPPark Chan-kyongPublished: 9:30am, 28 Nov 2025The sentencing of former South Korean prime minister Han Duck-soo in January next year will serve as a bellwether for others charged for their roles in impeached president Yoon Suk-yeol’s botched martial law decree, observers say.On Wednesday, a special counsel team investigating the insurrection charges related to Yoon’s December 3 decree demanded a 15-year jail term for the 77-year-old veteran administrator.Han is accused of helping “the mastermind of insurrection” and playing key roles in the failed self-coup.
AdvertisementSenior Judge Lee Jin-gwan of the Seoul Central District Court has set the date for Han’s sentencing for January ..

Hong Kong follows US in quarter-point rate cut to lower lending cost

AdvertisementInterest ratesBusinessBanking & FinanceBreaking | Hong Kong follows US in quarter-point interest rate cut to reduce loans cost for borrowersHalf-point cut in six weeks further eases the funding costs for businesses and mortgage borrowers
Reading Time:3 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPEnoch YiuPublished: 7:00am, 30 Oct 2025Hong Kong’s de facto central bank cut the base interest rate for the second time in six weeks, further reducing the cost of funding to help reboot the city’s businesses and reduce the burden on mortgage borrowers.
AdvertisementThe Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) cut the base rate by a quarter point to 4.25 per cent on Thursday, hours after the US Federal Reserve pared its target rate by the same margin to a range of 3.75 per cent to 4 per cent during the seventh meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) this year. The new base rate is the lowest for Hong Kong since November 2022.Together with a quarter-point rate cut in September, central banks..