The French Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD) has filed an interim appeal against TikTok with the Paris judicial court for unauthorized use of its members’ works on the platform.
The Paris-based rights and royalties management body, which represents some 58,000 film, television and theater authors and composers, said in a statement on Thursday that the decision followed four years of unsuccessful negotiations with the Chinese short video platform.
“For many years, TikTok has used copyrighted works from the SACD repertoire without any authorization, without ever offering acceptable compensation to the authors of these works, and has failed to remove the works as we requested,” the organization said.
Excerpts from popular French film and television franchises, such as Brice from Nice, Asterix and Obelix And Kaamelott among others, can be found everywhere on the platform. These titles are among the millions of works recorded at the SACD.
The organization, established in 1829, has worked to ensure its members are fairly compensated for their work in the digital age.
Furthermore, in 2014 it became the first European body to negotiate a residual agreement with Netflix and also participated in negotiations on local investment obligations with Netflix, Amazon and AppleTV+.
Thursday’s SACD statement also highlighted a lack of transparency on TikTok’s part regarding its financial data.
She explains that as an online content sharing service, TikTok is subject to the provisions of the Intellectual Property Code (IPC) and that as such, it is in a situation of infringement in the absence of a contract with the SACD for the works deposited with the organization.
“The SACD requests compensation for the harm suffered by the authors of the works used or displayed on the platform, as well as the disclosure of TikTok’s revenues. Copyright royalties must be determined on the basis of appropriate and reliable financial data.”
A hearing is scheduled for March 2026.
Deadline contacted TikTok for its response to the lawsuit and whether it would remove the disputed material from its site and is awaiting a response.
