Feb 15 (Reuters) - Disney ( DIS ) has sent a

cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance accusing the Chinese

company of using Disney ( DIS ) characters to train and power its

Seedance 2.0 AI video generator without ​permission, a source

familiar with the matter ‌told Reuters.

Disney ( DIS ) said ByteDance had pre-packaged Seedance with a

pirated library of copyrighted ⁠characters from franchises

including Star Wars and Marvel, portraying them ⁠as if they were

public-domain clip art, the ‌person said.

The letter ‌alleges Seedance is reproducing, distributing and

creating derivative works featuring Spider-Man, Darth Vader, ​and

other characters, the person added.

ByteDance ‌will strengthen safeguards on its Seedance 2.0 AI

video tool to prevent the unauthorised use of copyrighted

characters ​and celebrity likenesses, the Chinese ​firm ‌told the

BBC on Sunday.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to Reuters' request

for comment.

Online news outlet Axios was the first ⁠to report on Disney's ( DIS )

move. Paramount Skydance has also sent ⁠a cease-and-desist letter

to ByteDance, accusing the Chinese firm of engaging in "blatant

infringement" of its intellectual property, Variety reported at

the weekend.

Videos generated by Seedance 2.0, which was released last week,

have ⁠gone ‌viral in China including one of Tom ‌Cruise and Brad

Pitt in a fight. The AI model has ⁠been compared to DeepSeek and

has been praised for its ability to produce cinematic storylines

with just a few prompts.

Disney ( DIS ) has taken similar actions against Character.AI,

demanding that the startup immediately stop the unauthorised use

of its copyrighted characters.

In December, Disney ( DIS ) signed a licensing deal ​with OpenAI, letting

the startup use characters from Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel

franchises in its Sora video generator.