TikTok is not really his thing.
At 31, Tania Dutel did not grow up with this popular social network for 13-25 year olds, which consists of viewing or sharing video clips of up to 60 seconds.
As a precaution, the comedian still created an account a year ago, @TaniaDutel, simply to occupy the space and prevent his name from being used.
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She does not publish anything and yet, the "tags" which mention her have started to rain since the beginning of the year.
Quebecois friends questioned him about one of his jokes "which never stop turning".
"And there, I see on TikTok more than 3 million hashtags in my name, and 27,000 subscribers on an account @DutelTania!
The usurper publishes the comedian's sketches, cutting them into short extracts to multiply the videos.
Behind this profile with her name, the comedian quickly identifies a subscriber who follows her on Instagram.
“Everything I posted on Insta, he reposted immediately after on TikTok.
I was super nice, I contacted him telling him that he was better than me at communication and that we could work together.
He does not give me his name, tells me that he lives near Perpignan.
He creates a fake email address, always with my name, to communicate with me.
"
About 200 euros won thanks to the sketches of another
At the beginning, there is a semblance of collaboration between them: the fake Tania Dutel adds a link on which Internet users can book real show dates.
But he still does not specify that it is a fan account.
Even if it is not certified, the fake account sees its number of subscribers increase, reaching 60,000. It is enough to have 10,000 to start receiving (very low) remuneration from the share. of TikTok, calculated based on the number of views and other parameters that only an algorithm can decipher.
And Tania Dutel takes the measure of the situation when she learns that this "fan" has already received around 200 euros thanks to his sketches.
“There, I told him that it was an infringement of my copyright, and that I wanted him to remove my videos.
He simply replied that he had the right to do that, and added the mention "fan account".
It was two weeks ago and I haven't heard from him since.
The comedian reports the account several times for identity theft, to no avail.
Contacted via Instagram, he did not answer our questions.
She does not file a complaint, but urges TikTok to act.
The social network ends up deactivating the account last Friday.
"I don't mind that he does a fan account, it advertises."
But the fact of making money on it, I find it serious, reacts Tania Dutel.
TikTok told me that it is not verifiable, and that receiving money is not that easy.
And impossible to get his name to go to court.
Our videos have millions of views, they make money and I don't know who gets it.
I would like it to be regulated.
"
"With a wet finger" in intellectual property
Alerted to this emerging phenomenon by a handful of artists, the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD) sets itself the goal of establishing a remuneration contract with any channel or platform that broadcasts works from their repertoire.
“Our legal department is currently assisting a few authors on the issue of TikTok videos, plagiarism or counterfeiting,” explains SACD.
We advise them on possible remedies, but the issue of plagiarism is up to the judge.
"
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" There is no rule !
Intellectual property is case by case, so we are always on the wet ... It is a discretionary decision of the court, nothing is written in stone ”, confirms Mélanie Vion, lawyer in Paris in law of the intellectual property and commercial law.
The SACD specifies all the same that "for there to be plagiarism, there must be an effective recovery of the characteristic elements of the work or creation".
Article L. 122-4 of the Intellectual Property Code clearly states that “
any representation or reproduction, in whole or in part, made without the consent of the author or his successors in title or successors in title is illegal.
[…] ”
Articles 425 et seq. Of the Penal Code also stipulate that any representation of an intellectual work given without the prior and express authorization of the author constitutes an offense of counterfeiting.
On the TikTok site, the Authors' Society found “well-hidden” forms to request removal of illegal content.
"We have no experience of the effectiveness of reports via these forms but we remain vigilant," she says.
"All justified withdrawal requests are processed," says TikTok
On the side of TikTok, it is ensured that "any content that does not respect community rules" is deleted.
“We do not allow accounts where the user impersonates another person or entity in a deceptive manner.
If identity theft is proven, we require the user to correct the information or we delete or ban the account.
"
The Chinese application also specifies that fan accounts are allowed, "provided that the user indicates in his profile and username that he is indeed a fan and that he does not have a link with the subject of the account ”.
And promises to deal with "all requests for withdrawal justified, on the basis of non-compliance with copyright law.
”Still it is necessary that the principal concerned be aware of it: the usurpers take advantage of the absence of certain comedians on this network with the very young public to occupy the space.
"Very tempting to plagiarize"
Guided by boredom, comedian and magician François Martinez took to TikTok during the first confinement.
At 41 years old, the one who defines himself as “the daron of Tiktok” knows that his face is not “emblematic”.
He seeks precisely to conquer on this ground a new audience, younger, "which does not necessarily go indoors".
With 67,000 subscribers, his account brings him peanuts - "I haven't won more than 100 balls for the moment" - and visibility.
“No need to be excellent, just viral,” observes François Martinez.
In 59 seconds, he does a lot of "stupid challenges", magic, history of magic with fun anecdotes.
“It is not creativity that is rewarded: there are accounts that broadcast extracts of skits, and it works.
TikTok has this flaw of pushing you to go with the trend, so it's very tempting to plagiarize.
Obviously, there is a moment when it drifts.
"
