China’s Tencent wins video copyright infringment case in US district court

SHANGHAI: A U.S. district court has awarded Tencent nearly $85 million in compensation after finding that Taiwan-based TV box firm Unblock Tech and other distributors violated copyrights of video content developed by the Chinese tech giant.

The case, brought by units Tencent Penguin Film, Tencent Computer System and Tencent Technology accused the defendants of improperly copying, distributing and importing more than 1,500 of its shows including family drama “Little Days” and sci-fi blockbuster “Three Body Problem”.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas handed down the judgement on Feb. 7.

Tencent, which operates production house Tencent Pictures and Tencent Video did not respond to a request for comment. Unblock Tech also did not respond to requests for comment.

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“In the field of video content infringement, cross-border infringement is the most difficult to restrain … Tencent’s victory reflects their determination to combat such infringement,” said Vivian Toh, an analyst at TechTechChina.

In the past Tencent has repeatedly sued TikTok and Douyin-owner ByteDance for copyright infringement in Chinese courts, accusing them of improperly using its programmes.

The firms have not disclosed if those suits have been resolved or are still ongoing.