ByteDance’s Douyin, the popular short-video app with over 400 million daily active users, has sued a Guangzhou-based firm for trademark infringement, claiming RMB 3 million (USD 423,000) in compensation, local media the Paper reported on Wednesday.
A hearing was held on April 22 and the case is under investigation.
According to Douyin, the defendant, Guangzhou Remen Technology, used Douyin’s name and logo for promotional purposes and claimed to be an e-commerce-related subsidiary of the Beijing-based firm ByteDance to lure clients.
The Guangzhou firm intentionally misled the public on its relationship with ByteDance and improperly leveraged Douyin’s popularity and reputation, said ByteDance.
The dispute started as early as 2018 when Douyin filed a complaint to the Guangzhou local government against the company, which was previously called “Guangzhou Douyin E-commerce Technology”, but the dispute continued even after the firm renamed itself to “Guangzhou Remen Technology,” The Paper reported.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.