Hollywood studios are intensifying legal action against AI companies suspected of using copyrighted material without permission. Disney and Paramount have sent cease-and-desist letters to ByteDance over its Seedance 2.0 video model, alleging infringement. Industry groups and a startup called LightBar are providing tools and evidence to support these claims, positioning documentation as critical leverage in potential litigation or licensing negotiations.
Major Hollywood studios have transitioned from complaints to formal legal action over alleged AI copyright infringement. Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance concerning its Seedance 2.0 model, according to a report on Friday, with Paramount following with a similar letter the next day. Industry groups like the Motion Picture Association and SAG-AFTRA have also condemned the model for using copyrighted works and performers’ likenesses without authorization.
The startup LightBar offers a proprietary platform to analyze AI outputs for signs of unauthorized training data. The company told Decrypt its analysis measures “percentage likeness, distinctive character traits, and prominence” to compile evidence for further review.
Ram Kumar, a core contributor at OpenLedger, emphasized the importance of verifiable evidence in this new battleground. “Documenting model outputs ‘absolutely strengthens a studio’s negotiating position, but only if that documentation is structured, time-stamped, and cryptographically verifiable,’ he stated.
Kumar explained that creating cryptographically verifiable logs can convert resemblance into quantifiable proof. This evidence can strengthen a rights holder’s position even when the underlying training data cannot be directly traced.
