Mumbai: The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and ByteDance have reached an agreement aimed at strengthening copyright protections across ByteDance’s AI-powered video and image-generation tools, Seedance and Seedream.
The agreement follows legal action by Hollywood studios concerning ByteDance’s AI tools. In February, the MPA issued a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, alleging that Seedance 2.0 had been trained on copyrighted material and could generate unauthorised videos featuring characters such as “SpongeBob SquarePants” and visuals replicating a scene from “Stranger Things.”
“ByteDance is engaged in pervasive and widespread infringement of our members’ valuable intellectual property that it must stop immediately,” MPA Global General Counsel Karyn Temple wrote in a February 20 letter to ByteDance’s Global General Counsel John Rogovin.
According to the MPA, the association has held constructive discussions with ByteDance over the past several months to strengthen safeguards around Seedance and Seedream. The specific guardrails agreed upon have not been disclosed.
Charles Rivkin
“Today’s agreement illustrates our belief that copyright is a cornerstone of the film and television industry and reinforces our commitment to protect creative content,” said MPA Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin.
The development comes as ByteDance has introduced newer versions of its AI tools, including Seedream 5.0 Pro and Seedance 2.5. The company and the MPA said the latest versions incorporate improved intellectual-property protections.
“ByteDance respects the intellectual property rights that underpin creative industries around the world, and we believe responsible innovation in AI goes hand in hand with meaningful protections for rightsholders,” said Rogovin.
The agreement marks the MPA’s first agreement with an AI company, establishing a significant development in the ongoing discussions between Hollywood studios and technology companies over copyright protection and the use of creative works in generative AI.
The move also signals growing efforts by the entertainment industry and AI companies to establish safeguards that balance technological innovation with the protection of intellectual property and rights holders.
