The first four cases involve antitrust disputes, addressing issues such as horizontal monopoly agreements on fixing commodity prices and joint boycotts, as well as the abuse of dominant market position through practices such as product bundling. The last four cases deal with unfair competition, focusing on counterfeiting and confusion, false advertising, and the determination of infringement of technical secrets, covering sectors including platform data, traditional consumer goods, and new energy vehicles.
For instance, Case No. 6, the “Qing Dou” (“轻抖”) unfair competition case, involved organizing fake engagement and generating artificial traffic through deceptive promotional activities. The defendant, a Hangzhou-based technology company, designed, developed, and operated the “Qing Dou” product targeting Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese counterpart). Users seeking to increase their followers and viewership on Douyin could post the paid “tasks” on the “Qing Dou” platform, attracting other users to follow or watch videos on Douyin in exchange for rewards.
The court found that such conduct constituted unfair competition under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law by using a trading platform to facilitate and guide task posting, with "task takers" masquerading as ordinary users to artificially inflate views and followers. This conduct disrupted the platform’s traffic distribution mechanism. The court ordered the defendant to cease infringement, remedy the effects, and pay CHY 4 million in damages.
Photo by Jéan Béller on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
