A fierce legal battle over video-editing technology is boiling over in federal court, with TikTok and Chinese firm Beijing Meishe Network Technology Co. Ltd. filing dueling motions for summary judgment in a high-stakes intellectual property dispute. At the core of the lawsuit: who really owns the video-editing tool that powers some of TikTok’s U.S. apps?
The TikTok Chinese Editing Lawsuit, filed in 2023, alleges that a former Meishe employee stole proprietary source code and carried it to TikTok, where it allegedly resurfaced in apps now circulating widely among American users. Meishe insists the code in those apps is “strikingly or substantially similar” to its own—enough to trigger liability for copyright infringement and trade secret theft.
TikTok Fires Back: Meishe Never Owned the IP
TikTok, however, is hitting back hard. In its motion, the social media juggernaut claims Meishe lacks any legitimate claim to the technology. TikTok asserts that the true owner is China Digital Video (XAT)—a publicly traded Chinese company and Meishe’s former parent—which purportedly developed the disputed software over a decade ago.
“After more than four years of litigation, the truth has finally emerged: Meishe does not own the intellectual property it asserts as the basis for its claims,” TikTok’s legal team declared, accusing Meishe of submitting false sworn declarations and dodging discovery to obscure XAT’s ownership.
