Viral video app beloved by Generation Z was enough to worry the US government about TikTok Temporary a possible restriction.
Now it also needs to worry about patent infringement lawsuits from a rival competitor.
Similar to TikTok, shortform viral video app Triller is now suing its more popular competitor. The company alleges that Tiktok has stolen one of the proprietary features of the app.
The lawsuit claims that TikTok infringed Triller’s patent for a “system and method for producing music videos synchronized with an audio track”. More specifically the patented feature allows users to stitch together multiple videos with a single audio track. The Triller was granted a patent in 2017.
The patent feature seems to be quite basic and it seems that many similar viral video creation apps could possibly be infringing on it. However, Triller’s lawsuit focuses on TikTok’s green screen feature to make its case. Triller’s lawsuit includes photographic evidence arguing that the facility directly helped facilitate patent infringement.
Triller is seeking an unspecified amount of damages from TikTok.
In a statement made by Triller CEO Mike Lu, the company makes further claims by saying that TikTok specifically paid its creators not to post on the Triller platform.
He added, “We were shocked to learn that TikTok is actually using its Influencer Fund to pay influencers not to post on Triller, in fact restricting any posting on Triller. ” A startup in the US may pay its customers not to engage in competitor entrepreneurship and the new company may never come into existence.
Lu continued, “We will be amending our complaint shortly to include this serious antitrust violation.”
While Triller hasn’t become a mainstream sensation by any means, the app has had some success in its own right. Mashable First Covered Triller – and its patented feature – back in 2015. It has over 100,000 reviews on Apple’s App Store. is in the app Received(opens in a new tab) Investment from celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne. Triller has also recently hired TikTok stars like Josh Richards to work for their company, who has 20 million followers on the TikTok platform.
TikTok has been targeted by the Trump administration of late for its parent company ByteDance’s ties to the Chinese government. The last thing it probably needs right now is a patent battle over an app-defining feature. Especially from a company that would benefit from a possible TikTok ban by the US government.
But, when you become one of the most popular apps of all time and break download recordAs TikTok has done, becoming a target is inevitable.
