Netflix Threatens Chinese-Owned ByteDance with ‘Immediate Litigation’ over AI Copyright Infringement

Netflix has threatened the Chinese-owned ByteDance with “immediate litigation” for potential copyright infringement with its Seedance 2.0 AI platform.

The streaming giant sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance demanding that it remove all Netflix intellectual property from training datasets, per Variety.

“Seedance acts as a high-speed piracy engine, generating mass quantities of unauthorized derivative works utilizing Netflix’s iconic characters, worlds, and scripted narratives,” wrote Mindy LeMoine, director of litigation. “Netflix will not stand by and watch ByteDance treat our valued IP as free, public domain clip art.”

Netflix accused the company of infringing on copyright for Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters, Squid Game, and Bridgerton. The streaming giant even noted that circulating videos feature Bridgerton costumes from Season 4.

“These outputs mirror specific, narratively important costumes like Sophie Baek’s ‘Lady in Silver’ gown,” LeMoine wrote. “ByteDance has even promoted this content using #Bridgerton tags via its own official social media channels, such as @BytePlusGlobal.”

For Stranger Things, Netflix noted that videos of the series finale have circulated, which “feature detailed reproductions of the iconic cast as well as the monsters from the series, including Demogorgons and the Mindflayer.”

ByteDance has three days to respond.

As noted by Variety, Netflix’s threat follows Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros. accusing ByteDance “of stealing its most valuable IP.”

Last week, a clip went viral from the video generator Seedance 2.0 that featured movie titans Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in a photorealistic fight sequence, which prompted a fiery statement from the Motion Picture Association, per Variety.

“By launching a service that operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement, ByteDance is disregarding well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and underpins millions of American jobs. ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity,” read the statement.