Disney Sends Cease-and-Desist Over Seedance Infringement

Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance after alleging the company’s Seedance 2.0, launched February 12, 2026, bundled pirated Disney characters including Spider-Man and Darth Vader. Axios obtained Disney’s letter claiming widespread reproduction and derivative works, and industry groups have urged legal action. The move follows Disney’s OpenAI Sora licensing deal permitting 30-second videos of about 250 characters, raising enforcement stakes.