Stephen Larson Shares Insights with Bloomberg Law on Potential IP Complexities of TikTok Divestiture

In the article “TikTok Forced Sale Bid Embroils ByteDance’s Vast Patent Trove,” litigation partner Stephen Larson discussed the nuances of how ByteDance’s intellectual property could factor in a potential divestiture of the company’s lucrative social media subsidiary TikTok. The article analyzes the implications of a forced divestiture as a result of a U.S. House-passed bill banning TikTok from operating in the United States unless China-based ByteDance sells off the app.

Regarding whether ByteDance’s patents associated with TikTok would be part of such a sale, Larson, who handles high-stakes matters across a variety of technology areas, said that divestitures can exclude IP assets or require them to be sold off. Alternatively, he noted, non-exclusive licensing rights remain another possibility—though this would be “obviously the least valuable” option since competitors could also acquire licenses to the technology.

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