TikTok owner ByteDance pursues legal battle against Tencent after court rules it pay US$1.2 million in damages
- Beijing-based ByteDance said it will appeal a decision handed down by the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court in April
- The court ruled against ByteDance, ordering the firm to pay US$1.2 million as compensation to Tencent for violating its copyright
The court also ordered ByteDance to pay 8 million yuan (US$1.2 million) as compensation to Tencent for violating its copyright.
ByteDance, however, asserts that Douyin Huoshan does not infringe any intellectual property rights, arguing that users own the copyright of the content they create.
“There are different opinions on whether game operators should have control over live-streamed content,” said You Yunting, a senior partner at Shanghai Debund Law Offices. “The live broadcast of online games constitutes a cooperative work stipulated by the Copyright Law of China, so players are entitled to live-stream a game on a third-party platform, and game operators should not block it without proper reasons.”
You indicated that if users agree to live-stream on a platform, the operator of such platform shall be entitled to the same right to the live broadcast of online games.
The court decision in favour of Shenzhen-based Tencent, which runs the world’s largest video games business by revenue, may bolster its efforts to dominate live-streaming in China.
Tencent, however, faces regulatory pressure on that deal amid Beijing’s increased antitrust initiatives in the country’s internet industry.
ByteDance ploughs US$15 million into Roblox rival, challenging Tencent
“If Tencent wants the merger to be approved, it will probably grant rivals larger rights to live-stream its games,” DeBund’s You said.
ByteDance on Monday also accused Tencent of using its media and other content platforms of spreading negative news about Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. The most popular of the accounts that ByteDance singled out had only 500 followers.
“If Tencent knows anything about these accounts [attacking Douyin], we welcome the chance to work together to fight against [these malicious parties],” said ByteDance in a statement.
Tencent declined to comment.
ByteDance-Tencent feud a boon to small gaming studios
The legal battles between ByteDance and Tencent have intensified amid Beijing’s renewed focus on antitrust actions against China’s Big Tech firms.
In September 2019, ByteDance sued Tencent for unfair competition that the latter banned links from Douyin on the firm’s WeChat and QQ messaging platforms.
