2026-09-29——
Motion Picture Association and ByteDance agree to strengthen copyright protections in Seedance and Seedream
A short entry: a summary of the public record, checked against its sources, not yet read and analysed by Gianluca. How the register works
On August 18, 2026, the Motion Picture Association and ByteDance announced an agreement to strengthen copyright protections in ByteDance's AI video and image-generation tools, Seedance and Seedream. The agreement followed a February 20 cease-and-desist letter from the MPA alleging Seedance 2.0 was trained on copyrighted material.
What happened
- The MPA and ByteDance agreed to strengthen copyright protections around ByteDance's AI tools Seedance and Seedream.
- On February 20, MPA Global General Counsel Karyn Temple sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance Global General Counsel John Rogovin.
- The letter alleged Seedance 2.0 was trained on copyrighted material and could generate unauthorised videos featuring characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and visuals replicating a scene from Stranger Things.
- The MPA has not disclosed the specific guardrails agreed upon.
- ByteDance has since released Seedream 5.0 Pro and Seedance 2.5, which the company and MPA said reflect improved intellectual-property protections.
- MPA members include Amazon MGM Studios, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros.
Sources
- bwmarketingworld.com — primary
- en.wikipedia.org — party background
- motionpictures.org — party background
- seed.bytedance.com — party background
- eweek.com — party background
Announced 2026-09-29 · Added to the register 2026-09-30