Netflix issued a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance on Tuesday, threatening “immediate litigation” over the use of its copyrighted content in training data for the company’s Seedance 2.0 artificial intelligence service. The move escalates a growing dispute between Hollywood studios and the Chinese tech giant, with Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Having previously condemned ByteDance for enabling copyright infringement.
The letter, sent by Netflix director of litigation Mindy LeMoine, demands that ByteDance remove Netflix’s intellectual property from Seedance 2.0’s datasets and implement measures to prevent future unauthorized use. LeMoine characterized Seedance 2.0 as a “high-speed piracy engine” capable of generating derivative works based on Netflix’s shows and characters.
Netflix specifically cited unauthorized depictions generated by Seedance 2.0 of content from “Stranger Things,” “KPop Demon Hunters,” “Squid Game,” and “Bridgerton.” The letter details examples, including videos showing costumes from the upcoming fourth season of “Bridgerton” – specifically, “Sophie Baek’s ‘Lady in Silver’ gown” – appearing in generated scenes. Netflix also noted that ByteDance has promoted content using hashtags related to “Bridgerton” on its official social media channels, such as @BytePlusGlobal.
Further examples outlined in the letter include detailed reproductions of the “Stranger Things” series finale, featuring the show’s cast and creatures like the Demogorgon and the Mindflayer. The letter also alleges that users have created unauthorized crossovers, such as inserting Elon Musk into scenes from “Squid Game,” and generated clips replicating the visual style and character design of “KPop Demon Hunters,” including the lead character, Rumi.
ByteDance responded to the broader industry backlash on Monday by announcing plans to add further safeguards to Seedance 2.0 to prevent unauthorized use of copyrighted material and actors’ likenesses. However, these assurances proved insufficient for both Warner Bros. And Netflix, prompting the studios to send their formal letters on Tuesday.
Netflix’s letter marks the first instance of a studio explicitly threatening legal action. It also preemptively addresses potential “fair use” arguments, asserting that utilizing copyrighted works to create a competing commercial product, particularly one that closely replicates the original, does not qualify as fair use.
Seedance 2.0 has been recognized as a significant advancement in AI video generation, offering the ability to seamlessly combine video and audio with minimal prompting. The technology’s capabilities have fueled concerns within the entertainment industry regarding the potential for widespread copyright infringement.
ByteDance was given three days to respond to Netflix’s demands.
