ByteDance just signed a deal with Hollywood's biggest trade group. Read the fine print before you celebrate.
Read the fine print before you celebrate.
ByteDance signed an agreement with the Motion Picture Association on Aug 17, covering Seedance and Seedream, the tools behind TikTok, CapCut, and Dreamina. It follows a February cease-and-desist after Disney and other studios said the tools could generate copyrighted characters and celebrity likenesses without permission.
What's Actually In It
Content filters. Blocking of recognizable faces. C2PA Content Credentials (a record of how a piece of content was made. This is NOT a licensing deal) studios aren't getting paid.
The Quotes
MPA's chairman called it "meaningful guardrails." ByteDance's general counsel called it "an important framework for continued collaboration."
Who This Doesn't Protect
This stops the tool from generating a Marvel character without permission. It does nothing for the concept artist who used to be hired to draw an original one.
The Bigger Fight Isn't Over
Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, and Disney all still have separate, active lawsuits against Midjourney. And the people actually doing the work aren't in the room for any of it.
My Honest Take
The guardrail is about which existing IP the tool can copy. It says nothing about whether the tool replaces the person who'd have been hired to create something new.
Should This Deal Have Protected You Too?
Not just the studio's characters.