Delhi HC sets aside ShareChat case against Bytedance's Helo over copyright infringement

A lawsuit case against Chinese social media platform Helo by Sharechat over copying the latter's design, infringing copyright and indulging in unfair competition, has been dismissed by Delhi High Court.

The decision came after the Bytedance-owned company changed its design and user interface following the case filed by ShareChat. In October, ShareChat had dragged Helo in High Court thereafter Helo changed its product name to ‘Share, Follow & Chat’ on the Google Play store.

Apart from this SharChat also alleged that Bytedance was inappropriately using its name to get a higher ranking on search words. But now, Helo claims to stopped placing bids on the ‘ShareChat’ keyword on Google’s advertising platform.

Since its launch in India, Helo has been touted as a copycat of ShareChat as both apps used to have identical categories like Ladies’ Corner, Lifestyle, Jokes, WhatsApp Status, Love Bytes, Wishes, Quotes, and others.

Apart from this, the ruling party BJP was planning to file a complaint against Helo with the Election Commission alleging that the app was generating a lot of divisive negative campaigns and interfering in Indian elections.

Meanwhile, Bytedance claims to have removed 160K (1.6 lakh) accounts and 5 million posts from Helo over the last 10 months.

One of the most valuable startups in the world, Bytedance's other app TikTok was banned in India for quite some time for violating community guidelines. However, it was allowed by the Indian government to continue operations in the country.

In its defence, Bytedance has been repeatedly saying that it is focused on being a responsible company, in compliance with local laws and regulations.

Launched only last year, Helo has gained popularity amongst Indian especially the millennials. The app arguably claims to have 40 million monthly active users and further targeting 300% growth in 2019.

The development was reported by ET.