Wixen Music Publishing sues Triller for wilfull infringement

By Emmanuel Legrand

Wixen Music Publishing has accused short video-sharing platform Trillerof infringing the copyright of over 1,000 songs represented by the Calabasas, California-based publisher.

  In a lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Central District of California, Wixen claims that Triller has been “willfully infringing” the musical works it represents by featuring the musical works in videos without licenses and compensation. Wixen is seeking up to $50 million in damages.

  "Triller has, without authorisation or compensation, reproduced and made the Works available the App to its App users, resulting in thousands of audiovisual works incorporating, without authorisation or compensation, the Works,” reads the lawsuit. Wixen's lawsuit is part of a growing frustration among music publishers that the platform is not doing enough to ensure that it is fully licensed.

Disregard copyright law

  In the lawsuit, Wixen insists on Triller's lack of reaction when notified about infringing content: “Triller told Wixen that it could locate fewer than five Videos containing the Works. In addition, Triller repeatedly advised Wixen that it would remove Works from the app, but repeatedly failed to do so.”

  It continues: “Triller could have reached out and negotiated with Wixen to obtain the necessary licenses, as its CEO promised. Instead, it chose to brazenly disregard copyright law and commit willful and ongoing copyright infringement. Among the evidence of Triller’s willfulness is that it continued to use, copy, and exploit [our] works even after Wixen notified Triller that it had not obtained the proper licences for the use of the works.”

  Triller CEO Mike Lu described the suit as "a baseless shakedown and it won't work." He added: "We look forward to our day in court where hopefully we can stop them from doing this to others who may not have the resources to fight them and give in to their extortionist demands."