Google removed dozens of AI-generated videos depicting Disney-owned characters from YouTube after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter on Wednesday demanding their immediate removal due to copyright infringement.
The videos featured characters such as Mickey Mouse, Deadpool, and figures from Star Wars and The Simpsons franchises. Many of these clips were created using Google’s AI video generation tool, Veo. Disney specifically flagged the YouTube links to these videos in its letter. On Thursday, the links remained accessible but redirected users to a notice stating, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Disney.”
Disney issued the letter shortly before announcing a licensing agreement with OpenAI. Under this deal, OpenAI gains access to 200 Disney characters, allowing users of its Sora AI tool to generate short video clips incorporating those licensed properties.
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In the cease-and-desist letter, Disney provided an extensive list of characters requiring removal from both YouTube and YouTube Shorts. The roster included figures from Frozen, such as Elsa and Anna; Moana; the Toy Story series, featuring Woody and Buzz Lightyear; Deadpool; Iron Man from the Marvel universe; Lilo & Stitch; and Winnie the Pooh along with his companions from the Hundred Acre Wood.
Beyond immediate takedowns, Disney demanded that Google implement technical safeguards within its AI tools to block the generation of videos featuring Disney-owned characters. The studio also instructed Google to halt any further use of its characters in training data for AI models.
Google responded with a statement on Thursday acknowledging the matter. “We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them,” the company said. “More generally, we use public data from the open web to build our AI and have built additional innovative copyright controls like Google-extended and Content ID for YouTube, which give sites and copyright holders control over their content.”
