Tik tok sued for trademark infringement by video editing house Stich

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By Safal Sethi

London-based Stitch Editing filed a suit against the social networking platform TikTok and its Chinese affiliate, ByteDance, in the District of California. Stitch Editing offers commercial and music video editing services. It possesses a registered US trademark for "Stitch Editing" and common law trademark rights for "Stitch" that encompass its editing services. According to the lawsuit, TikTok developed an editing tool dubbed "Stitch" in September 2020, allowing users to cut and incorporate sequences from another user's video into their own, with 

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"no regard for Stitch's long-standing prior rights and hard-earned goodwill in the video-editing business". Stitch claims to have spent a significant amount of time and money developing goodwill for its trademark and safeguarding its essential brand. According to the lawsuit, “Stitch utilizes both the ‘Stitch' and ‘Stitch Editing' marks to designate its service as such, to consumers and that ‘Stitch’ designates a single source when used in conjunction with video-editing services. Stich Editing claimed that there are lot of similarities between its mark and TikTok’s mark. TikTok's post uses "Stitch"in "a blocky, sans-serif, white font," which is identical to the former Stich Editing’s "Stitch" mark.

By Safal Sethi

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As a result, Stitch Editing claimed that the similarities and alleged infringement would likely confuse customers, leading them to believe that TikTok's "Stitch" editing functionality is affiliated with or supported by Stitch Editing. Violation would impair the company's image and result in long-term damages. Stitch Editing is requesting a declaratory judgement as well as a preliminary and permanent injunction, along with damages.

By Safal Sethi