Facing an impending (although not certain) ban in the U.S., as well as persistent regulatory scrutiny globally for everything from child privacy to forced labor, TikTok could use some positive news coverage. So to nudge things in the right direction, the social platform has shared details about its successes in protecting intellectual property rights on its Shop ecommerce platform.
In 2022, the platform launched the IP Protection Centre (IPPC), a web-based portal that enables brand owners to learn about TikTok’s intellectual property rights (IPR) policies and submit claims of IPR abuse.
Now TikTok has shared the results of those efforts from July 2023 to July 2024. During that time period TikTok reports that:
- 4,804 TikTok Shop stores were permanently deactivated for IPR violations;
- More than 5 million products were proactively blocked from going live;
- 800,000 videos and livestreams were removed for IPR infringements; and
- The IPPC processed more than 180,000 requests and permanently revoked selling permissions for more than 30,000 TikTok Shop creators.
TikTok Shop said that is has more than 1,400 IPR specialists on its team across Southeast Asia, Europe and the U.S. When a seller’s listed products are detected for suspected IPR policy violations, enforcement actions are triggered. If the seller fails to provide the evidence requested to establish that their products are not infringing on IPR, their products will be blocked from being uploaded or are taken down if they are already live. Sellers whose products receive IPR violations receive violation points. These vary based on the severity and nature of the infringement and could eventually impact their future ability to sell on the platform.
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Claims of IP infringement are not uncommon on online marketplaces like TikTok and its competitors, including Shein, Temu and Amazon. In fact, Shein was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit in April 2024, and American Eagle sued Amazon for selling “dupes” of its products in September 2024 despite Amazon’s years-long effort to tamp down on counterfeiting. In particular, Amazon’s continued struggle highlights the difficulty these platforms face in monitoring and enforcing regulations across open marketplaces frequented by millions of selling entities.
