Google Thwacked With ShortsTV Trademark-Infringement Suit Over Tech Giant’s TikTok Rival

EXCLUSIVE: Google ’s dogfight with TikTok for dominance in the shortform video space has a new combat zone – the courts. The UK’s Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, to be precise, and a potential David in Shorts International Ltd trying to tackle the tech goliath. In what could shape up to be a long-term dust-up, the London-based ShortsTV parent company filed a trademark-infringement suit against Google on June 23 over the company’s YouTube Shorts division.

In the graphics-rich filing ( read it here ), SILs assert that the branding and promise of YouTube Shorts which was launched in 2020 as a sharp rival to the booming ByteDance-owned TikTok, “are highly similar if not identical” to that of the 2008 unveiled ShortsTV. Related Story Johnny Depp Rejects Amber Heard’s “Frivolous” Aim To Toss Trial Verdict As Too Little, Too Late; ‘Pirates’ Star Claims ‘Aquaman’ Star Knew About Juror Discrepancy “Further and additionally, where Google uses the Devices in association with the sign YouTube, or the Google Sign YouTube Shorts, members of the public are liable to assume that Google, through YouTube, owns or has acquired the brand,” SIL claims of its own 13,000 titles strong and AMPAS -affiliated ShortsTV. Last month’s filing comes as SIL already is fighting off efforts by Google to “invalidate” the company’s trademarks.

The Carter Pilcher-founded ShortsTV, which includes AMC Networks as a minority shareholder in its Shorts Entertainment Holdings owner, has seen the Sundar Pichai-led Google YouTube Shorts applications stayed for now on the other side of the Atlantic — though this latest legal action could prove the pin that is pulled in the overall grenade. “Google has used, in the course of trade, without the consent of SIL, signs that are similar to the Trade Marks in relation to goods and services which are identical or similar to the goods and services for which the Trade Marks are registered or some of them,” says the injunction filed on June 23 and seeks potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in unspecified damages seeking action. “Because of the similarity there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the relevant public,” the 14-page document adds.

“At trial SIL will seek a remedy for all acts of infringement of the Trade Marks by Google. ” AP As a part of that remedy, SIL, which owns ShortsTV trademarks in the UK, the European Union, India and America, essentially want YouTube Shorts in its current form shut down and blown up. A result that surely would cede the lucrative shortform arena to the thriving TikTok.

To give a sense of the stakes, YouTube announced last month that more than 1. 5 billion logged-in users are watching YouTube Shorts every month. TikTok’s last comparable data release had over 1 billion monthly users on the dance-heavy platform as of September 2021.

On the bottom line metric, Google hauled in almost $257 billion in revenue last year. Buoyed by ad sales, TikTok had around $4 billion in revenue in 2021, with that number expected to triple at the very least this year. Shorts International Ltd had revenues of $11 million in 2020, and $6.

8 million in 2021, as the company moved to an ad-supported model stateside last year. Google has not responded to request from Deadline for comment on SIL’s new-ish legal step. ShortsTV, on the other hand, had a lot to say outside about its filing.

“This is really saddening,” CEO Pilcher told Deadline about the standoff between the two companies. “A massive company decides to adopt branding that we consider almost identical to our own, and which we have spent decades of concerted effort building into a recognized and respected name in our industry, and when challenged, they apply to cancel our trademarks around the world rather than seek an amicable resolution. That is unfortunately the position ShortsTV faces, and we have been left no choice but to pursue this litigation as a last resort.

We hope the Court will agree that Google has infringed our trademarks. ” Adding a cruel irony to all this is the fact that the tens of millions of views that ShortsTV has built up over its own history is in large part to the company’s YouTube channel. .