Hollywood and ByteDance Forge Landmark AI Copyright Agreement
Motion Picture Association and TikTok parent company establish guardrails for AI video generators, protecting intellectual property.
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, have reached a significant agreement establishing safeguards for AI video and image generation tools. This landmark deal aims to protect Hollywood's intellectual property rights, preventing the creation of unauthorized content featuring copyrighted characters and actors.
The agreement, announced Monday, will implement strict guardrails on ByteDance's AI platforms, including Seedance and Seedream. These measures ensure that the AI technology respects intellectual property rights, thereby prohibiting users from generating content that infringes on existing copyrights. Charles Rivkin, Chief Executive of the MPA, emphasized that copyright is fundamental to the film and television industry.
Discussions between the MPA and ByteDance spanned several months, focusing on the implementation of meaningful protections for AI tools offered through various platforms like TikTok, TikTok USDS Joint Venture, CapCut, and Dreamina. John Rogovin, General Counsel for ByteDance, stated that the company respects the intellectual property rights that support global creative industries, asserting that responsible AI innovation must be paired with robust protections for rights holders.
This resolution follows a period of tension, including a cease-and-desist letter sent by the MPA to ByteDance in February. Hollywood studios had raised concerns that AI tools were generating viral content using iconic characters and celebrity likenesses without authorization. Specifically, Disney had accused ByteDance of bundling Seedance with a library of copyrighted characters from franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel, presenting them as public domain material. The studios alleged that Seedance was reproducing and creating derivative works featuring characters like Spider-Man and Darth Vader.
In response to the studios' concerns, ByteDance had previously indicated its intention to enhance safeguards. In February, the company stated it was taking steps to strengthen existing protections to prevent the unauthorized use of intellectual property and likenesses by its users on Seedance 2.0.