Suing Tik Tok failed to claim 221 billion VND, VNG conducted an appeal in September 2022

According to information announced by VNG Joint Stock Company, from 2014 to now, this business has been involved in 11 lawsuits, including 8 cases of copyright infringement, 3 cases related to the right to perform contracts; VNG stands as the defendant in 6 cases and the plaintiff in 5 cases.

Out of a total of 11 lawsuits, 2 have been successfully reconciled, 2 are in the process of judgment enforcement, and the rest are in the state of complaints, appeals or the court is reviewing files and documents.

2019 was a pretty “turbulent” year for VNG when it was sued by a company 3 times, which is TK-L Communication Joint Stock Company.

First, VNG was sued for the copyright of the movie “The Leaf Rolled Out” exclusively exploited by TK-L Media Joint Stock Company on television and digital multimedia platforms in Vietnam. VNG was forced by the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City to pay TK-L an amount of VND 829.48 million and apologize publicly. Disagreeing with the first-instance judgment, on August 28, 2022, VNG made an appeal to the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City.

TK-L also sued VNG for copyright infringement on 3 films also in 2019, and there was a first-instance judgment of the Court forcing compensation of 14.34 billion VND. On November 9, 2022, VNG filed an appeal. The case is currently being received and handled by appellate court at the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City.

And yet, TK-L also sued VNG for infringing copyright of 3 cinematographic works that this unit exclusively exploits on television and digital multimedia platforms in Vietnam. The case is being reviewed by the Court of First Instance with relevant documents and evidence.

Not only being sued, VNG has also played the role of plaintiff 5 times and has caused a stir, the most controversial is the Tik Tok lawsuit worth VND 221 billion in 2020. Specifically: VNG (the owner of the platform). listen to music online Mp3.zing) sued TikTok Inc (owner of the short video sharing social network TikTok) because many records in which VNG is the subject of related rights were communicated to the public on the Tik Tok platform. without VNG’s consent constitutes an infringement of related rights under Clause 8, Article 35 of the Intellectual Property Law.

VNG asked Tik Tok to stop the violation, publicly apologize and pay 221.5 billion VND for damages.

The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City rejected the entire petition of VNG. In the latest development, VNG filed an appeal on September 15, 2022.

Summarized from 2014 to now, out of 5 lawsuits filed by VNG, 2 cases have won favorable results and are in the process of judgment enforcement. The amount of compensation under the judgment is expected to be 232.5 million VND (from Hexa Media Joint Stock Company ) and 550 million VND (from Hong An Media and Entertainment Joint Stock Company).

On the contrary, there has been no judgment in which VNG is the defendant that has had an adverse final result (must pay compensation) to VNG, the new incident is still at the process of reviewing the file or being appealed.

For VNG’s specific business, copyright disputes leading to lawsuits are inevitable, but until now, according to self-published data, no party has received compensation from VNG’s pocket.