TikTok Can’t Seek Fees Before Trade Secrets Outcome, Court Says

TikTok Inc.'s counterclaims that it’s owed attorneys’ fees because a trade secrets lawsuit was brought against it in bad faith aren’t separate claims and were brought too early in the case, a California federal court said.

The laws TikTok and parent ByteDance Inc. cited to justify its counterclaims require a “prevailing party” and the lawsuit by Beijing Meishe Network Technology Co. is ongoing, according to a Tuesday opinion in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. TikTok argued that much of the allegedly stolen source code was created after the former employee left Meische, and that Meische ...