(Yicai Global) May 12 -- Beijing Kuaishou Technology is suing rival short video platform Douyin, know outside China as TikTok, to the tune of CNY5 million (USD706,000) for allegedly impersonating it on a third-party app store and diverting customers away, a Chinese court said today.

Top search results for the keyword Kuaishou on the app store 360 Mobile Assistant, developed by software giant Qihoo 360 Technology, come up as Douyin, not Kuaishou, and there is a link to download the Douyin app, the plaintiff said. A Beijing court has taken the case.

Douyin, run by tech giant ByteDance, has set Kuaishou as one of its paid keywords to increase the chance of users downloading it, Kuaishou said. This reduces Kuaishou’s share of users and constitutes unfair competition, it added. The behavior has also weakened the connection between the brand and its products, amounting to trademark infringement.

Beijing-based ByteDance has recently been embroiled in a number of lawsuits with other internet rivals, including Baidu and Tencent Holdings, as both Douyin and its core product, content provider Toutiao, rapidly expand their market share.

Editor: Kim Taylor