Tencent and Douyin end years of copyright disputes by signing cooperation agreement on content distribution
- Douyin and Tencent have reached an agreement on the promotion of long and short video
- Users of ByteDance’s Douyin, Xigua Video and Jinri Toutiao will be able to produce derivative works based on Tencent-owned videos
Tech giant Tencent Holdings and Douyin, the short video app operated by ByteDance, have agreed a partnership deal on video content distribution after years of contentious copyright disputes.
Douyin, the Chinese sister app of TikTok, said in a statement on Friday that it recently signed a deal with Tencent with respect to promotion of long and short video as well as the exploration of derivative works.
Under the deal, Tencent will authorise Douyin to distribute its video content and clarify copyright rules for users to produce modifications and adaptations. As a result, users of Douyin, Xigua Video and Jinri Toutiao, all operated by ByteDance, will be able to produce derivative works based on Tencent-owned videos.
In its statement, Tencent said the cooperation is “an important step for the audiovisual industry in the innovative use of film and television content copyright”, and the two companies will continue to explore new ways to better use long and short form videos based upon respect for copyright.
The collaboration ends years of copyright disputes between Tencent and Douyin, as short video apps rose to prominence at the expense of streaming sites.
