(Yicai Global) Sept. 12 -- Beijing Internet Court, China's second court to deal specifically with internet and intellectual property right disputes, has accepted its first case after opening three days ago.

Beijing Bytedance Technology's Tik Tok, a popular short video-sharing app, has accused Baidu-backed Huopai of plagiarizing content created by its users, and asks that Huopai stop, apologize and pay CNY1 million (USD145,400) in compensation and CNY50,000 (USD7,300) for reasonable expenses.

The plaintiff filed electronically, and both parties will have real-time access to the case's progress via registered accounts. It is also the first time that blockchain-based evidence has been admitted in a video infringement lawsuit after third-party platform Zhongjing Tianping Technology collected data on the origin of the content.

China's first ever cyber court opened in Hangzhou, home of Alibaba Group Holding, Ant Financial and other tech companies, in August last year. Its Beijing counterpart launched on Sept. 9. As of 6 p.m. the next day, it had over 207,000 visits and received more than 200 case applications from nearly 590 registered users, its website shows.

The disputes handled can include those related to internet shopping and service contracts, online lending, copyright ownership and infringement. All or part of any case can be dealt with by attending court or via the internet in line with the principle of 'online trial of online cases.'

Tik Tok has more than 500 million active monthly users worldwide while Huopai launched just last December and announced a new recruitment plan in August, which explains some of its growing pains. Bytedance and Baidu met in a Beijing court last month. The search engine giant was found to have illegally streamed some of Bytedance's talk show content and was ordered to pay CNY25,000 in compensation. 

Editor: Emmi Laine