DCT
7:24-cv-00333
Shopsee Inc v. TikTok Inc
I. Executive Summary and Procedural Information
- Parties & Counsel:
- Plaintiff: ShopSee, Inc. (Delaware)
- Defendant: TikTok, Inc. (California)
- Plaintiff’s Counsel: Latham & Watkins LLP
- Case Identification: 7:24-cv-00333, W.D. Tex., 03/10/2025
- Venue Allegations: Plaintiff alleges venue is proper in the Western District of Texas because Defendant maintains a regular and established place of business in Austin, including substantial physical offices, key executives, and hundreds of employees. Allegations also point to Defendant’s "Project Texas" initiative to store U.S. user data on servers in Texas and its efforts to recruit Texas-based businesses and consumers to its platform.
- Core Dispute: Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s TikTok platform, specifically the TikTok Shop and related e-commerce features, infringes a patent for integrating shoppable and social media overlays within video content.
- Technical Context: The technology concerns methods for embedding interactive e-commerce and social functionalities directly into a video stream, allowing viewers to purchase items or communicate with others without interrupting the primary viewing experience.
- Key Procedural History: The complaint alleges that Plaintiff provided Defendant with pre-suit notice of the asserted patent and its infringement. Specifically, notice letters were allegedly sent to TikTok’s CEO and its legal counsel in Austin, which may form the basis for the willfulness allegations.
Case Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2016-12-28 | ’316 Patent Priority Date |
| 2021-09-28 | ’316 Patent Issue Date |
| 2025-03-10 | Complaint Filing Date |
II. Technology and Patent(s)-in-Suit Analysis
U.S. Patent No. 11,134,316 - "Integrated Shopping within Long-Form Entertainment"
The Invention Explained
- Problem Addressed: The patent addresses the challenge content creators and advertisers face in monetizing video entertainment, as consumers increasingly use ad-blocking technologies and shift from traditional cable to ad-free streaming services, thereby reducing advertising revenue (’316 Patent, col. 1:21-54).
- The Patented Solution: The invention proposes a system of interactive video "layers" overlaid on streaming content. A first layer enables users to select objects within the video (e.g., an actor's clothing) and receive product information or make a purchase without being redirected to an external website, thus creating a "seamless entertainment and marketing experience" (’316 Patent, col. 2:8-18). A second layer integrates a social media function, allowing viewers to discuss the video content with other users in a private or public setting, eliminating the need for a separate device or "second screen" for social interaction (’316 Patent, col. 3:38-48). Figure 4 of the patent illustrates visual indicators (460, 462, 464, 466) overlaid on video content (404) that a user can interact with.
- Technical Importance: This approach is presented as a technological improvement that allows for non-interruptive monetization of video content in a way that is immune to conventional ad-blocking software (’316 Patent, col. 2:15-18).
Key Claims at a Glance
- The complaint asserts at least independent claim 18 (Compl. ¶46).
- The essential elements of independent claim 18, a computer-implemented system, include:
- A software module for receiving a user's request for information about items in a video.
- A software module for linking those items to marketing or purchasing information.
- A software module for generating a "first interactive layer" that displays the items and linked information with the video.
- A software module for generating a "second interactive layer" that contains a "social media portion" allowing a user to interact with other guests, view past interactions, and "toggle between a plurality of different conversations."
- A software module for transmitting these layers to the user's device.
- The complaint does not explicitly reserve the right to assert dependent claims, but infringement is alleged for "one or more claims" (Compl. ¶45).
III. The Accused Instrumentality
Product Identification
- The "TikTok Accused Products" are identified as the TikTok platform, including TikTok Shop, TikTok LIVE, and related features for advertising, marketing, or purchasing items, services, or songs (Compl. ¶46).
Functionality and Market Context
- The complaint describes the accused functionality as a social media platform for short-form video that incorporates e-commerce features (Compl. ¶28). These features include "Shoppable Videos" which are "interactive video content designed to showcase products and allow viewers to purchase directly from the video itself" (Compl. ¶31). Sellers can embed product links, and users can engage in a "Complete In-App Experience" from discovery to checkout without leaving the TikTok application (Compl. ¶34, 20). The platform also includes integrated social features such as liking, commenting, and sharing, which the complaint alleges allow users to "interact and build connections" (Compl. ¶30).
- A visual provided in the complaint depicts a three-step process for a "Video Shopping Ad": an in-feed ad with a product link, a product detail page, and a checkout page, all presented within the TikTok interface (Compl. p. 17).
- The complaint alleges that TikTok Shop has achieved significant commercial success, projecting $17.5 billion in sales in 2024 and being dubbed the "new undisputed king of online shopping" (Compl. ¶¶39-40).
IV. Analysis of Infringement Allegations
’316 Patent Infringement Allegations
| Claim Element (from Independent Claim 18) | Alleged Infringing Functionality | Complaint Citation | Patent Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| a software module for receiving a request for the generation of information regarding items, services, or songs presented in a video media from a first processing device of a user; | TikTok's platform receives requests when a user taps a clickable product link embedded within a "Shoppable Video" or "LIVE Shopping" stream. | ¶31, ¶35 | col. 7:20-25 |
| a software module for linking the items, services, or songs with marketing and/or purchasing information; | TikTok provides tools for sellers to link their products to videos, creating "Shoppable Videos" with embedded marketing and purchasing information. | ¶31, ¶36 | col. 7:26-29 |
| a software module for the generation of a first interactive layer to display with the video media, wherein said first interactive layer contains the items, services, or songs of interest linked to the marketing and/or purchasing information; | The TikTok platform generates and displays "Shoppable Videos" that overlay clickable product links and shopping interfaces on the video content, enabling in-app purchasing. A visual shows this flow from in-feed ad to checkout (Compl. p. 17). | ¶31, ¶32 | col. 7:30-34 |
| a software module for the generation of a second interactive layer ... wherein the second interactive layer contains a social media portion controllable by the user ... to interact with ... at least one guest ... and wherein the user is capable of maintaining and toggling between a plurality of different conversations... | The platform’s commenting and sharing features allegedly constitute a second interactive layer, allowing users to interact with each other while viewing videos. A visual shows the comment interface on a video (Compl. p. 16). | ¶30, ¶46 | col. 8:31-43 |
| a software module for transmitting the first and second interactive layers to the first processing device of the user. | TikTok’s servers transmit the video data, including the allegedly infringing shoppable and social features, to users' devices for display. | ¶28, ¶46 | col. 7:40-42 |
Identified Points of Contention
- Scope Questions: The patent is titled "Integrated Shopping within Long-Form Entertainment" and its background focuses on television shows and movies (’316 Patent, Title; col. 1:21-26). A potential dispute is whether the TikTok platform, which is centered on short-form video, falls within the scope of "long-form entertainment" as contemplated by the patent.
- Technical Questions: A key question will be whether TikTok’s standard commenting system meets the detailed requirements of the "second interactive layer" in claim 18. The claim requires that the user be "capable of maintaining and toggling between a plurality of different conversations." The complaint does not provide specific evidence that TikTok's comment threads provide this particular functionality, raising the question of a potential mismatch between the accused feature and the claim language.
V. Key Claim Terms for Construction
The Term: "first interactive layer" / "second interactive layer"
- Context and Importance: These terms are foundational to the asserted claims. Their construction will determine whether TikTok’s integrated shopping and social features qualify as the claimed "layers." The central issue is whether a "layer" requires a specific technical implementation of an overlay distinct from standard application functions.
- Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:
- Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: The patent describes the layers' purpose as enabling shopping and social interaction "without interruption of the entertainment" and without being "directed to another web site" (’316 Patent, col. 2:15-18, 3:29-33). This functional description could support an interpretation covering any in-app feature that prevents redirection to an external browser.
- Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: The patent's detailed description and figures (e.g., Figs. 4, 5, 8) show specific graphical overlays with toggles and dedicated menus that are visually and functionally distinct from the underlying video content. This could support a narrower construction requiring a more specific user interface and implementation than TikTok’s integrated features.
The Term: "maintaining and toggling between a plurality of different conversations"
- Context and Importance: This limitation defines a specific capability of the claimed "second interactive layer" (social layer). Practitioners may focus on this term because the complaint's allegations regarding TikTok's commenting feature do not explicitly address this "toggling" functionality. The viability of the infringement allegation for this part of the claim depends heavily on its definition.
- Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:
- Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: A party could argue that scrolling through a comment feed and replying to different comment threads constitutes a form of "toggling" between conversations in a general sense.
- Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: The specification describes more structured social environments, such as "side rooms" and distinct public versus private conversations, which a user can join or switch between (e.g., Fig. 11, elements 1101, 1103; ’316 Patent, col. 20:25-30). This suggests "toggling" may require a more explicit mechanism for switching between discrete, parallel conversational spaces, rather than navigating a single, nested comment thread.
VI. Other Allegations
- Indirect Infringement: The complaint alleges that TikTok induces infringement by actively encouraging and instructing its users (sellers) on how to create and use the accused "Shoppable Videos" and LIVE selling features. It cites materials from the "TikTok Shop Academy" as direct evidence of these instructions (Compl. ¶50).
- Willful Infringement: The willfulness claim is based on alleged pre-suit knowledge. The complaint asserts that Plaintiff sent notice letters detailing the infringement of the ’316 patent to TikTok's CEO and legal counsel prior to filing the lawsuit, and that Defendant continued its allegedly infringing activities despite this notice (Compl. ¶42, ¶55).
VII. Analyst’s Conclusion: Key Questions for the Case
The resolution of this case may depend on the court's determination of several key questions:
- A core issue will be one of definitional scope: can a patent explicitly directed at solving problems in "long-form entertainment" like television shows and movies be construed to cover the short-form video ecosystem of the accused TikTok platform?
- A central claim construction question will be one of functional specificity: does TikTok’s general-purpose commenting feature perform the specific function of "maintaining and toggling between a plurality of different conversations" as required by claim 18, or is there a fundamental mismatch in technical operation?
- An evidentiary question will be one of technical implementation: do TikTok’s in-app shopping and social features, which are integrated into the application's native user interface, constitute the "interactive video layers" described in the patent, which are framed as distinct overlays designed to prevent redirection from a primary video stream?