In the past three years, Beijing Haidian Court has accepted a total of 4,851 intellectual property cases involving the digital economy, and concluded 1,447 cases with judgments, with the highest amount of compensation awarded being more than 21 million yuan. On April 23, the Beijing Haidian Court issued the "White Paper on Intellectual Property Trials of Beijing Haidian District People's Court (2024)" (referred to as the "White Paper"). In addition to introducing the trial status of digital economy intellectual property cases in the past three years, it also released Ten typical cases include the case of live broadcast cheating in the human live broadcast system, the case of plagiarism of online short dramas and the infringement of online novels, and the "source management" of explanatory short video series cases.
Case: Is it infringement to use local videos to fake live broadcasts and homemade variety shows to invite guests to watch the live broadcast of the opening ceremony of the event?
In recent years, the digital economy has developed rapidly, and the protection of intellectual property rights related to the healthy and rapid development of the digital economy has continued to receive attention. Haidian Court has tried many typical cases involving the digital economy and properly resolved a large number of intellectual property disputes under the digital economy. On April 23, the Haidian Court released the "White Paper on Intellectual Property Trial of Beijing Haidian District People's Court (2024)".
In the white paper, the Haidian Court released ten typical cases of intellectual property disputes involving the digital economy. In the unfair competition case of setting false live broadcast titles, a computer company set a live broadcast title on the website section it operates, such as "The 110th entry of the Chinese delegation is live broadcasting the opening ceremony of a certain event." However, after clicking on the title to enter, the live broadcast title was played. The company's self-produced variety show invites guests to watch the opening ceremony of the event while eating hot pot. An internet company, which legally enjoys the exclusive right to broadcast the event program in mainland China, sued a computer company. The court believed that the defendant's behavior constituted unfair competition and ordered it to pay compensation of 520,000 yuan.
In the case of using an unmanned live broadcast system to commit live broadcast cheating, the "certain unmanned live broadcast system" sold by the two defendants can live broadcast using local video files or other users' real-time live broadcast content on the plaintiff's live broadcast platform. It became a cheating tool for some anchors, hindered the normal operation of the plaintiff's live broadcast platform services, constituted unfair competition, and was ordered to compensate a live broadcast platform operator 1.03 million yuan.
In an online short drama plagiarism and infringement case from an online novel, the plaintiff was authorized to have the exclusive rights to adapt, film and defend the film and television works and videos of an online novel (hereinafter referred to as the novel involved in the case), as well as the rights to infringe rights. The plaintiff once sent the novel involved in the case to the second defendant through an intermediary to discuss filming a short play, but was rejected. When the plaintiff was planning to invest in the filming of a short play on his own, he discovered that the second defendant had filmed the novel involved in the case into an online short play without authorization (hereinafter referred to as the accused infringing short play) and played it on the first defendant's short video platform. The two defendants are the co-investors, producers and beneficiaries of the accused infringing short play. Because the adaptation and filming of the infringing novel involved constituted copyright infringement, they were ordered to compensate the plaintiff for economic losses and reasonable expenses of more than 240,000 yuan.
In a series of cases involving commentary short videos, the plaintiff, a cultural company, is a domestic new media copyright provider. It has obtained the exclusive information network dissemination rights of multiple film and television works involved in mainland China and the right to defend rights in its own name. . An expert anchor owned by a media company uploaded a commentary video of the film and television work involved in the case without permission on a short video platform operated by an information service company. A cultural company believed that a media company had infringed on its copyright in the film and television works involved; an information service company, as the operator of a short video platform, constituted joint infringement, and requested a court to order the two defendants to immediately stop the infringement and jointly and severally compensate for economic losses. After accepting this series of cases, the Haidian Court judged that this series of cases were batch cases of copyright infringement and unfair competition disputes between platforms through the complex and simplified screening process of new cases. The mediation foundation was good, so this series of cases were included Through in-depth communication with both the plaintiff and the defendant, we learned that in addition to this series of cases, the plaintiff has obtained evidence of other related infringement content on the defendant’s platform and is preparing to file more than 300 lawsuits.During the communication, the Haidian Court learned that the two parties, as platforms for long videos and short videos respectively, also had the intention and basis to discuss cooperation. Through timely communication, building bridges, and advancing as soon as possible, the two parties sought common ground for cooperative development and discussed relevant matters. Reaching an agreement and relying on the basis of cooperation, while reaching a package settlement for cases that have entered litigation and more than 300 subsequent cases, we will conduct in-depth business cooperation to jointly promote the development of the video industry.
Platform data rights protection has become a hot topic and the protection of key digital cultural products has attracted much attention.
Yang Dejia, President of the Fifth Civil Trial Division (Intellectual Property Tribunal) of Haidian Court, believes that intellectual property disputes involving the digital economy have shown many new characteristics and trends:
First, the protection of platform data rights has become a hot topic and focus. What path should be used to protect the rights and interests of platform data, how to regulate the improper acquisition and use of platform data, and how to properly balance the protection of data rights and interests and the free circulation of data have become issues of great concern. During the trial of the case, you can choose to protect it through trade secrets, or you can use other specific provisions stipulated in Chapter 2 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, or apply general provisions to protect the interests of operators, the order of market competition, and the interests of consumers by punishing the accused behavior. comprehensively balance the impact on public interests, and evaluate competitive behaviors involving platform data.
Second, the protection of digital cultural products has attracted much attention. With the development of the digital economy, cultural products related to digital technology have become increasingly abundant, and the construction of digital culture has leapt to a new level. In the context of the continuous prosperity of Internet culture and digital culture, the protection of digital cultural products has also become a key issue in the protection of intellectual property rights. During the trial of the case, whether it is to judge the nature of the content requested for protection or to determine whether the accused act is an infringement, it is important to lift the veil of new technologies and return to the purposes and principles stipulated in the law itself, focusing on the subject of creation. Basic issues such as people, people's creative behavior, and people's intellectual achievements will be expanded.
Third, the methods of infringement on online platforms are constantly changing. As mobile Internet technology continues to upgrade and expand, behaviors that infringe on intellectual property rights are also constantly changing. During the trial of the case, different entities are distinguished to determine the nature of the parties’ actions, and the platform’s responsibilities are determined based on the nature and identity of the platform. This should not only be considered in accordance with the considerations clearly stated in relevant legal regulations, but also combined with the service characteristics of the network platform in the specific case. , business scale, technical management level and other factors to make a comprehensive judgment.
Fourth, the management of black and gray Internet products needs to be urgently strengthened. Black and gray products on the Internet are following like a shadow, spreading and eroding every corner of the Internet, and have seriously affected the safety of citizens' personal property and the market order of fair competition. Therefore, the prevention and control of black and gray products has become a top priority in cyberspace governance in recent years. During the trial of the case, the consideration of balance of interests is used throughout. When judging the legitimacy of behavior, in addition to paying attention to the impact on the interests of operators, more attention should be paid to the consideration of consumer rights and social public interests.
Fifth, the resolution of intellectual property disputes involving digital intelligence needs to be strengthened. In the context of the era of rapid development and iteration of the digital economy and artificial intelligence, how to properly resolve conflicts and disputes at the forefront of industries, strengthen the protection of digital and intelligent intellectual property rights, and promote innovation-empowered development has also become one of the focuses of intellectual property judicial work. During the trial of a case, it is necessary to track and pay attention to the entire process, conduct research and judgment on each process node, and achieve timely and proper handling of the case. It is also necessary to collaborate internally and externally to resolve the case, conduct in-depth industry research and discussions, and collaborate with administrative agencies, industry associations, etc. Conduct research and exchanges to build full-chain protection of digital intelligence intellectual property.
Haidian Court has judged 1,447 intellectual property cases involving the digital economy in the past three years, with the highest compensation amount exceeding 20 million yuan.
According to the white paper, in the past three years, Beijing Haidian Court has accepted a total of 4,851 intellectual property cases involving the digital economy, accounting for 10% of all intellectual property rights cases. 56.7% of the cases, 4,840 digital economy intellectual property cases were concluded, 1,447 cases were concluded by judgment, and the maximum amount of compensation awarded was more than 21 million yuan. In 2023, the hospital received 2,841 new intellectual property civil cases, a year-on-year increase of 11.8%.3,244 intellectual property civil cases were concluded, a year-on-year increase of 15.2%; of which 1,891 cases were concluded in an expedited manner, accounting for 58.3% of the cases concluded throughout the year.
Based on the characteristics and trends of the above cases, the Haidian Court made suggestions from the following four aspects: First, guide enterprises to establish a sense of fairness and integrity and maintain a healthy and good competitive order; second, give full play to the role of industry associations as a link and bridge to build collaborative high-quality development synergies; third The first is to enrich the service measures of administrative agencies and give full play to active and effective law enforcement capabilities; the fourth is to strengthen the legal protection functions of judicial agencies and improve the judicial protection mechanism of intellectual property. The
white paper summarizes the intellectual property trials of Haidian Court in 2023, and uses the intellectual property cases involving the digital economy as a perspective to summarize the characteristics of the cases and refine the adjudication rules, with a view to providing a reference for improving the quality and efficiency of trials in similar cases and providing guidance for the adjudication of similar cases in the digital economy. Practitioners and participants provide helpful guidance. Haidian Court will take this opportunity to promote reform and innovation in the field of intellectual property adjudication, and continue to contribute judicial wisdom and strength to the construction of a digital economy leading area and an artificial intelligence innovation center in Haidian.
correspondent Li Sixian, Shi Junwen
text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Dai Youqing
editor/Zhu Wei
