American VC Firm Sued For Investment In Alleged Pirate Site In Vietnam

An American venture capital firm finds itself a defendant in a $450 million lawsuit for backing a Vietnamese website that offers free downloads of copyright-protected material. Massachusetts-based International Data Group supported VNG, the owner of alleged pirate site Zing.vn, through one of its venture capital arms, and now faces a lawsuit from California-based Lang Van, a popular Vietnamese music brand. Lang Vin is asking for damages of $150,000 per infringement, and claims 3,000 of its songs were made available on the website. In a January complaint filed in the District Court for the Central District of California, Lang Van claims International Data Group “directly contributed to the exponential growth of Zing.vn’s website as well as the launch of the Zing Music website, bringing expertise, guidance and financial backing to help VNG grow its business.”