Self-made app to watch dramas for free
On October 14, 2022, the information company reported that it had discovered during daily inspections that the "Tuhema" video app had released and spread a large number of videos that were not authorized by the company. Through big data analysis, remote inspection, and visits, the public security organs identified 10 video apps suspected of copyright infringement, including "Tuhema", "Zhuiju Meow" and "Jubaibai". On that day, the relevant app operation managers, namely the app webmasters, were punished Conduct investigation. According to
, in October 2020, Zhang, a 29-year-old freelancer named "Little Turtle" online, did not want to pay to watch dramas on mainstream video apps, so he used his professional skills as a programmer to develop a This app enables you to freely follow dramas by analyzing videos from mainstream video platforms.
A month later, Zhang named the developed app "Little Turtle App" and shared it on the Internet to try to find buyers. Unexpectedly, it received a lot of attention, and he came up with the idea of ââmaking money by selling app templates. Many app webmasters expressed their willingness to purchase customized app templates from Zhang through Alipay or virtual currency payment at prices ranging from 499 yuan to 2,499 yuan.
Guo is one of them. He joined a QQ group established by "Little Turtle" in December 2021. "Little Turtle" claimed in the group that his customized app can not only watch dramas for free, but also place advertisements to make money.
Under the guidance of "Little Turtle", Guo provided the name of the app "Tuhema" and its icon, and paid a purchase fee of 700 yuan and an upgrade service fee of 400 yuan. According to the tutorial sent by "Little Turtle", he rented a server and uploaded the "Tuhema" video app installation package to the Internet for others to download and use. In just a few days, a large number of pirated videos were used without authorization in the "Tuhema" video app, including TV series, American dramas, Korean dramas, variety shows, movies, animations and other genres.
Guo's "Tuhema" video app is provided by "Little Turtle" to provide post-maintenance and technical support services, and Guo can reap the benefits after simply collecting resources and parsing the video in the background. After investigation, from December 20, 2021 to October 10, 2022, Guo made an illegal profit of 68,121.56 yuan through advertising in the "Tuhema" video app.
This case shows the characteristics of deep decentralization and concealment in all aspects and obvious cross-regional nature. Some of the people involved have many years of computer experience. They committed the crime through new technical means such as program construction and resource collection. This undoubtedly poses a problem to the collection of evidence. Higher requirements. In early October 2023, the Jintan District Procuratorate was invited by the public security organs to intervene in the case in advance according to law. Prosecutors focus on guiding the investigation and evidence collection from aspects such as the characterization of copyright infringement, the number of infringing works, and illegal and criminal proceeds.
Matchmaking between buyers and advertising companies
On October 19, 2023, the public security organs transferred Zhang and others to the Jintan District Procuratorate for review and prosecution on suspicion of copyright infringement. During the review and prosecution stage, the prosecutor handling the case visited professional institutions such as the Market Supervision Bureau and the Internet Advertising Alliance Platform. By comparing massive app viewing data and sorting out online payment account transaction records, they finally found out from aspects such as pirated video playback and advertising profit channels. The facts of the case were clarified.
These free film and television contents are actually just bait for app webmasters to make money. Their real purpose is to collect advertising fees. Zhang not only reserved advertising interfaces when making these apps, but also matched buyers with advertising companies.
At the end of 2021, Xie A and Xie B, employees of a Nanjing Internet Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Internet company), met "Little Turtle" on the Internet due to their work needs to undertake and place advertising business.Through testing, I found that an app recommended by âLittle Turtleâ could increase advertising revenue, so I reached cooperation with other app webmasters recommended by âLittle Turtleâ.
Xie A and Xie B knew that nine app webmasters including Guo had not obtained the authorization from the copyright owner and could not undertake advertising business, but they still registered their own companies and took over advertising business and then handed it over to relevant apps for placement. After Xie A and Xie B settle the advertising fees with the upstream advertising company, they usually give 45% to 70% of the advertising fees to the app webmaster. The app webmaster will give 10% of the profit to "Little Turtle" and the remaining Keep the profits for yourself.
Precise strikes and recovery of stolen goods are synchronized
In addition, considering that the criminal suspects are distributed across the country, the prosecutor handling the case informed the information companyâs rights protection claims that it could file a criminal incidental civil lawsuit against the infringer, and actively provided evidence collection guidance, legal Consultation, program selection and other support can effectively resolve the dilemma of passive rights protection for rights holders.
The procuratorial organ found after review that from the second half of 2021 to November 2022, the app developed by Zhang infringed on 2,555 copyrighted film and television works. Zhang's illegal income was more than 160,000 yuan, Guo and other nine app webmasters' illegal income totaled more than 480,000 yuan, and Xie A and Xie B's total illegal income was about 200,000 yuan.
On April 1 this year, the Jintan District Procuratorate prosecuted 10 people including Zhang on suspicion of copyright infringement, and Xie A and Xie B on suspicion of assisting information network criminal activities. On the same day, under the guidance of the procuratorate, the information company submitted a criminal-included civil complaint to the Jintan District Court, demanding that the 10 suspects who infringed the copyright compensate for economic losses that were approximately twice their illegal gains. The lawsuit requested compensation for their economic losses of more than 600,000 yuan.
Court trial scene
On April 26, the case was heard in public at the Jintan District Court. After mediation in court, the 10 defendants guilty of copyright infringement paid more than 260,000 yuan in compensation, and the two parties reached a settlement agreement and completed it.
Source: Procuratorate Daily
