Warner Bros. has recently taken a stand against ByteDance, accusing the Chinese company of enabling users to create knockoff videos featuring iconic Warner Bros. characters on its new AI video service. In a letter addressed to John Rogovin, the general counsel of ByteDance who previously defended copyrights for characters like Superman and Batman, Warner Bros. expressed their concern over the blatant infringement of their intellectual property.
Wayne Smith, the executive VP of legal at Warner Bros. Studios, emphasized the importance of these characters to the company and called out ByteDance for engaging in infringement that Rogovin had previously worked to prevent. Warner Bros. demanded that ByteDance stop using their characters and implement measures to prevent further infringement.
ByteDance recently introduced Seedance 2.0, boasting improved video quality, which led to a flood of user-generated videos featuring mashups of popular characters like Tom Cruise, Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, and Thanos. Users also shared alternate endings to popular films and TV shows, including “Game of Thrones.” This led to backlash from industry associations like the Motion Picture Association and SAG-AFTRA, as well as cease and desist letters from Disney and Paramount.
In response to the criticism, ByteDance pledged to implement additional safeguards to prevent unauthorized use of intellectual property. However, Warner Bros. remained unsatisfied, pointing out that the focus should not solely be on users but also on ByteDance’s role in facilitating the infringement.
The letter from Warner Bros. highlighted examples of Seedance videos featuring characters from “The Matrix,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Harry Potter,” “Rick and Morty,” and “Game of Thrones,” as well as fight scenes involving Batman, Catwoman, and Superman. While ByteDance has taken some steps to block text prompts related to Warner Bros. characters, the studio questioned why these safeguards were not in place from the start.
Overall, Warner Bros. is determined to protect its intellectual property and ensure that ByteDance respects their copyrights. The ongoing dispute highlights the challenges of policing user-generated content on social media platforms and the importance of implementing robust measures to prevent infringement.
