The lawsuit is related to alleged copyright infringement.

Reuters reports that the tech firm VNG has sued TikTok, the short-form video app popular with young netizens, over licensing for songs used in videos on the platform.

VNG has accused TikTok of using songs owned by Zing, the music service that is a VNG subsidiary, without permission. The news wire quotes a legal document from the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court as saying: "VNG requests TikTok remove all music segments taken from Zing records from both the TikTok application and website, and an indemnification for damages of over VND221 billion (US$9.5 million)." 

TikTok has an estimated 10 million users in Vietnam, but there are issues with the rights to music included in videos hosted on the app. The Vietnam Music Association told Reuters: "Notably, TikTok has introduced a very complicated business model to avoid copyright compliance in Vietnam."

The video platform, which is owned by a Beijing-based tech firm called ByteDance, has consistently made global headlines in recent months, most notably in the United States, where President Donald Trump has expressed his wishes to either ban the app or have its US operations purchased by an American company.

[Photo via Flickr user Solen Feyissa]