Vietnamese entertainment giant VNG is suing Bytedance’s short-video app TikTok, claiming it doesn’t have the license it needs to play the songs featured on its platform.
Photo credit: Alexey Malkin/123RF
The Southeast Asian startup is accusing TikTok of using audio tracks owned by the VNG subsidiary Zing without the company’s consent, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
VNG has already filed a legal document with the people’s court of Ho Chi Minh City. In a copy seen by Reuters, VNG is reportedly seeking damages from TikTok and is demanding that the Chinese-owned company remove Zing’s music from the app.
“VNG requests TikTok [to] remove all music segments taken from Zing records from both the TikTok application and website, and an indemnification for damages of over 221 billion dong (US$9.5 million),” it wrote in the document.
TikTok made its official debut in Vietnam in April last year, when it already had over 1,000 content creators based in the country. It also announced its partnership plans with cable company Vietnam Television Cable Corporation to boost local content.
However, the app had gone live in Vietnam well before its launch. By that time, it claimed that it had over 12 million active users in the country, KrAsia previously reported.
Tech in Asia has reached out to TikTok for a statement on the issue.
Founded in 2004, VNG is one of Vietnam’s leading tech firms, focusing on entertainment, community, and software products such as games, music streaming apps, and messaging platforms.
In a document dated February this year, VNG also sued local music streaming site Nhaccuatui roughly US$5 million for similar claims. The case has yet to be resolved.
Editing by September Grace Mahino
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