Tag Archives: copyright infringement

DeBund Succeeds in Pushing Copycat Game App from AppStore

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Recently, DeBund takes a big step forward in providing mobile internet legal services that You Yunting Team, on behalf of clients, succeeds in pulling a popular game from the AppStore by more than 10 lawyer’s letters.

The Developer of the complained game copied large amounts of background elements of a well-known game, including graphic design, plots, role names and geographic names, and also used the brand of the original game. The Developer also made a cartoon modeling on the game characters, and did a slight change to the game name, not exactly the same as the original game. The infringed benefits greatly from the complained game to millions of yuan every month.

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Qvod Vs China Government: RMB 260 million Punitive Fine for Copyright Infringement?

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(By You Yunting) Introduction to the Case:

Plaintiff: Shenzhen Qvod Technology Co., Ltd (the “Qvod”)

Defendant: Market Supervision Administration of Shenzhen Municipality (the “MSA”)

Court of first instance: Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court

The MSA filed a case with the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, and claimed to cancel the punitive fine of RMB 260 million from the MSA. On 30th of December 2014, the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court held the trial as the case is still on that trial.

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Does Story Plot Plagiarism Constitute Copyright Infringement in China?

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(By You Yunting) Introduction to the Case:

In the first half of 2014, Palace 3: the Lost Daughter is a 2014 Chinese historical television series written and produced by Yu Zheng. In April 2014, a Taiwanese writer Chiung Yao made a letter claimed that Palace 3: the Lost Daughter (the “disputed show) was based on her novel Plum Blossom Scar (the “reference novel”), but Yu Zheng delayed. On May 28, 2014, Chiung Yao filed a lawsuit, claiming that Yu Zheng was unauthorized to copy her original core plot, recompose the disputed drama and produce and broadcast the disputed show with another 4 defendants. Chiung Yao thought that Yu Zheng had seriously violated her right of adaptation and cinematization, causing great mental damage, and requested Yu Zheng to immediate stop infringement, eliminate influences, make an apology and compensation of RMB 20 million for economic loss.

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Could Jewelry Design be Protected by the China’s Copyright Law?

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胜利之v

(By Luo Yanjie) It is common in China that a jewelry of the same design would be manufactured and sold by different jewelry shops in the industry of China’s jewelry. With regard to the initial source of the jewelry design, a lot jewelry companies and even consumers are not concerned whoever firstly designs the jewelry. In reality, a well-designed jewelry that took designers a great intelligence shall be protected by the Copyright Law. In today’s post, we will introduce a case where a jewelry design is succeed to be protected by the Copyright Law, sharing with readers.

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Introduction to Ownership of the Performer’s Right in China

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(By Luo Yanjie) As China recently ratified the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, in today’s post, we will introduce the system and cases of the performers’ rights in the Copyright Law. As for who holds the performer’s right, different judgments will be found through three cases. Who holds the performer’s right? The performer, the company/organizationthat hires the performer, or the performing company/organization? These different judgments can become an obstacle for the further development of China’s performing arts.

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Why Did NCA Officials Attend Sohu.com’s Press Conference against Toutiao.com?

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(By You Yunting) Recently, Sohu vs Toutiao has attracted attention from the media. Sohu sued Toutiao for copyright infringement and unfair competition, whilst Toutiao filed lawsuits against Sohu for defamation. It is quite normal for two enterprises in competition to take legal proceedings against each other. However, what really surprised us was, in their dispute, that governmental officials attended Sohu’s press conference, in favor of Sohu. In today’s post, we will discuss the reason for theimproper governmental interference. Comments and suggestions are most welcome.

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Why UniStrong’s Navigation Found Guility of Copyright Infringement against Microsoft？

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(By Luo Yanjie)Our previous post How does Microsoft Settle Its Problems of Software Copyright Infringement in China introduced the difficulties of protecting its rights and interests in China. However, in today’s post, the court decided the trade practices constituted copyright infringement and ruled in favor of Microsoft, thus boosting confidence for all software owners.

Introduction to the Case:

Appellant (defendant at first instance): Beijing UniStrong Science & Technology Co., Ltd (“UniStrong”)

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Traditional Media shall Enhance Themselves against Internet Infringement

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toutiao

(By You Yunting) According to news media’s reports, the National Copyright Administration of China (the “NACA”), State Internet Information Office (the “SIIO”), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (the “MIIT”) and the Ministry of Public Security (the “MPC”) recently initiated the 10th special campaign dubbed “Sword Net Action” against online piracy and infringement, centered on cracking down on some websites’ unauthorized reprint from traditional media. This “Sword Net Action” could be better for traditional media, but governmental action gradually has different stages. Traditional media must improve practicing skills in the legal campaign against new Internet media.

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Could Toutiao.com Achieve a Settlement with Traditional Media?

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toutiao

(By You Yunting) Toutiao and its investors would never have thought that a bomb from traditional media would come close on the heels of the Toutiao announcement that it had secured $100 million USD of Series C financing at a valuation of $500 million USD. The Beijing News made a comment “Toutiao.com: Whose headlines are they?” to attack the copyright infringement of Toutiao.com. Afterwards, Toutiao instantly replied, categorically denying infringement. However, just as the trees may wish to be still, the wind doesn’t stop, Toutiao may prefer the criticism to stop, but the traditional media will not subside. Soon, the copyright infringement of Toutiao soon became a public focus, being the subject of a variety of media’s collective enforcement on the grounds of copyright infringement.

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Why China‘s Courts Decided the Enterprise’s Use of “Personal Edition” Software Constitute Non-infringement?

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(By Luo Yanjie) Rhino Software Inc. developed the Serv-U software, a kind of widely adopted FTP server terminal software to help the transmission of documents on websites. In recent years, Rhino Software Inc has been continuously trying to enforce its rights against unauthorized use of Serv-U in China, but the results are not satisfied. In our previous Questions and Solutions to Enforcement of Rights Protection By Overseas Software Enterprise in China, we had analyzed the reasons why Rhino Software Inc encountered obstacles in its protection. That the trial version for 30-days free use made Rhino Software Inc unable to the affirmation of infringement was the reason why Rhino Software failed in today’s post.

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Does QVOD Business Model Touch China’s Warning line of Government Regulatory?

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(By You Yunting) Abstract:  The nature of “QVOD Business Model” is that both large and small-sized companies are to jointly infringe online copyrights. Under the facts that large companies provided technology and commerce and then small companies engaged in infringing works, such cooperation set up an environment of competitive advantages resulting from weak regulatory. This cooperation’s true cleverness comes from the deepen understanding of safe harbor rules and the Internet’s globalization and anonymity. If “QVOD Business Model” is continuous operating, such model may be cumulative legal risks and thus is likely that a criminal investigation can make an end of “QVOD Business Model”.

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Symantec Corporation Uses both Criminal and Civil Methods to Defeat Piracy in China

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    (By You Yunting) It is well known that China is facing a serious problem over piracy. When claiming for his enforcement over cases suspected to involve criminal offences, the right holders often report to the Police attempting the use of criminal laws to strike with piracy. Furthermore, in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations, upon the completion of criminal proceeding, the party against the piracy may, on the basis of criminal judgment paper, file civil lawsuits against the pirated to receive compensation. Today we will introduce a case concerning Symantec Corporation’s enforcement against the pirated party, where Symantec Corporation instituted lawsuits against the pirated, as well as the companies which contributed to make pirated CDs and print the envelopes of the pirated software. As such, its lawsuits and claims are being backed by Shanghai courts.

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Linking Copyrighted Movies Constituted Non-infringement

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(By Luo Yanjie) Recently, our team represented a client who developed an App offering a linking service, in an infringement case over the linking of a copyrighted video on the mobile internet. The court made a final judgment in favor of our client, on the grounds that the safe harbor principle applied in this case. In today’s post, we will introduce this case below.

Introduction to the Case:

Plaintiff: China Film Media Asia Audio Video Distribution Co. Ltd (the “China Film Media Co. Ltd”)

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Why Wasn’t Baidu Library Protected Under Safe Harbor Principle?

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(By Luo Yanjie) In our previous post Baidu Library Ordered to Pay Huge Huge Compensation on for Copyright Infringement, we discussed the amount of the compensation in the case of Beijing China Youth Book Inc. vs Baidu Library. Yesterday, we found out the reasoning and judgment held by Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. Thus, in today’s post we will analyze the legal basis about this case from the perspective of the judgment.

Introduction to the Case:

Plaintiff: Beijing China Youth Book Inc. (the “Youth Book Inc.”)

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What kinds of Copyright Shall Television Watch-back Services Be?

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(By You Yunting) The U.S-based TiVo Inc. developed and marketed its TiVo, a digital video recorder (DVR), which can provide programs and services like on-demand and watch-back for its users. Similar to TiVo, Chinese cable operators and cable television stations provides similar services for its programs, shows and services. This means that users who miss the program can choose an on-demand program on the television. However, cable television stations are generally purchasing the right of broadcasting for the program, without the right of communication of information via a network. This purchase is at risk of copyright infringement. In a previous post Which Copyright Should an Internet TV Operator Purchase?, we discussed the difference between the right of broadcasting and the right of communication of information via network. Today we will introduce such a typical case in the following.

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