"Code Plagiarism": ByteDance Ordered to Pay 82.668 Million in Damages!

February 13, 2025

Meishe Technology won a lawsuit against ByteDance on February 13, 2023, after it was found that Douyin had plagiarized software code from Meishe’s products. The court awarded 82.668 million RMB in damages. The case highlighted a former Meishe employee's role in reusing code at ByteDance, leading to code duplication across several apps. This historic ruling marks China’s first “billion-yuan-level” fine for code plagiarism, emphasizing the importance of intellectual property protection and innovation in the tech industry.

ByteDance, CodePlagiarism, TikTok