Seedance 2.0 Copyright Battle Escalates — MPA Issues First-Ever AI Cease-and-Desist

The Motion Picture Association sent its first-ever cease-and-desist letter to a generative AI company today, joining Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Warner Bros, and Sony against ByteDance over Seedance 2.0. The MPA called copyright infringement "a feature, not a bug" of the video generator. Netflix's letter was the most aggressive, explicitly threatening "immediate litigation" and calling Seedance "a high-speed piracy engine."

CNN reports the tool generated realistic clips of Friends characters as otters, Tom Cruise vs. Brad Pitt fights, and Will Smith battling a spaghetti monster — all going viral. ByteDance pledged to "strengthen safeguards" after Chinese authorities intervened over deepfake concerns, but has not pulled the model. The February 27 deadline for ByteDance to respond is the next flashpoint.