China’s iQiyi seeks US$4.4 million in damages for unlicensed streaming of hit show about back-stabbing concubines
A Jinri Toutiao spokeswoman said the company has not yet received a notice from the Chinese courts regarding the iQiyi case.
China’s largest video streaming site iQiyi is suing Beijing ByteDance Technology, the operator of information aggregation app Jinri Toutiao, for unauthorised streaming of its hit show about back-stabbing imperial concubines, seeking compensation of 30 million yuan (US$4.4 million).
The Haidian District People’s Court of Beijing has accepted the lawsuit, a case briefing posted on the court’s homepage showed on Monday.
iQiyi, which has exclusive online distribution rights to The Story of Yanxi Palace, accused ByteDance of streaming short clips of the hit drama that drew over 800,000 views per clip, causing “tremendous damage” to the company, iQiyi said.
The 70-episode soap opera about Qing dynasty imperial concubines back-stabbing each other to gain the emperor’s favour had amassed more than 10 billion views as of the court filing and smashed the platform’s one-day viewership record in early August.
Co-produced by iQiyi and Huanyu Film, Yanxi Palace is available in more than 70 markets globally, making it one of the most widely distributed period series produced by the country.
The runaway hit nonetheless surprised many in the industry because of the absence of A-listers, with Hong Kong actress Charmaine Sheh Sze-man arguably the most famous cast member outside mainland China.
Known as China’s Netflix, iQiyi is claiming 30 million yuan as compensation for economic losses and expenditures, and further demanded that ByteDance terminate any further live streaming.