Sony Pictures has joined the outcry against Seedance 2.0, the Chinese video platform that has united Hollywood studios in their condemnation of AI-generated copyright infringement.
In a cease and desist letter sent Wednesday, the studio demanded that ByteDance immediately remove its valuable IP — including “Breaking Bad” and the “Spider-Verse” films — from the Seedance AI training data.
“Given the egregious nature of Seedance 2.0’s outputs and the complete lack of observable copyright guardrails at launch, SPE can only conclude that ByteDance’s infringements are willful,” wrote Jill Ratner, general counsel of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Sony is the fifth studio to lodge a protest directly with ByteDance, following similar letters from Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros. and Netflix. ByteDance has sought to reassure copyright holders that it will strengthen its measures to prevent copyright infringement and misuse of actors’ likenesses, but that has not quelled the protest.
“SPE will not tolerate delayed or half-baked measures,” Ratner wrote. “Please contact us immediately to confirm that effective, robust, and meaningful guardrails are being implemented forthwith.”
Seedance 2.0 AI clips have circulated on social media since last week, with users taking the opportunity to stage superhero fight scenes and create alternate endings of TV shows like “Game of Thrones” and “Stranger Things.”
The Motion Picture Association — which represents all five studios, plus Amazon and Universal Studios — was first out of the gate with its condemnation on Feb. 12, when CEO Charles Rivkin called on ByteDance to immediately cease its infringement.
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
On Wednesday, Netflix threatened “immediate litigation” if the company did not comply.
Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal are also pursuing litigation against Midjourney and MiniMax over their AI video models. Those cases are at the earliest stages.
MiniMax, like ByteDance, is headquartered in China, and the plaintiffs have had difficulty serving the defendants. According to a court filing, the studios’ lawyer has been told that it could take 18 to 24 months to serve defendants via the Chinese Ministry of Justice under the Hague Convention — suggesting that any action against ByteDance would face similar delays.
From Variety US