Tencent Claims $126 Million from Douyin in Copyright Dispute of Soul Land
Tencent recently increased its claim amount for the “Soul Land” copyright dispute with ByteDance’s Douyin from 61.6 million yuan ($9.7 million) to 800 million yuan. So far, Tencent has sued Douyin for more than 2.943 billion yuan in the past six months.
At the beginning of June 2021, Tencent applied for behavior preservation before filing the lawsuit for “Soul Land” animation in Chongqing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. The company argued that the content uploaded by users through Douyin’s platform infringed upon the animation’s copyright.
Tencent requires Douyin to immediately delete all infringing videos and take effective measures to filter and intercept other infringing videos uploaded and disseminated by users. Tencent also requested the court to order Douyin pay a compensation fee of 61.6 million yuan.
In August 2020, the Beijing Internet Court issued a judgment on another infringement case of “Soul Land”. Xingyu Entertainment compensated Tencent 80,000 yuan for broadcasting “Soul Land” and adding advertisements for profit.
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According to a person close to ByteDance, from June until December 10, 2021, Tencent has sued Douyin 168 times in 18 courts in 13 provinces across the country on the grounds of copyright infringement. The lawsuits have totalled over 2.943 billion yuan. Among them, “Soul Land” and the TV series “You Are My Glory” ranked first and second in terms of compensation.
