The first case of the Beijing Internet Court pronounced: Baidu’s deletion does not constitute infringement

On December 27, Beijing Internet Court publicly pronounced the first case accepted after the establishment, the copyright ownership and infringement case of “DouYin Short Video” vs. “HuoPai Small Video.” Plaintiff-Beijing WeiBoShiJie Technology Inc. contends that after the short video was broadcast on “DouYin Short Video” platform, Baidu Online Internet Technologies Beijing Inc. and Beijing Baidu WangXunTechnlogies. The two defendants in this case, uploaded and offered for download, without permission, on their “HuoPai Small Video” and sought injunction and damages of one million Yuan plus cost of 50,000 Yuan against the two defendants.

The court clearly stated in the judgment that the short video was protected by China's copyright law, but the defendant Baidu, as the network service provider, immediately deleted the short video involved, which did not constitute infringement, and rejected the claim of “DouYin Short Video” in the first instance.

Beijing Police Crack over 6,600 Internet-related Cases

The cyber-security department of Beijing police said more than 3,100 suspects involved in over 6,600 Internet-related cases were detained in the city in 2018. In early December, two suspects were captured in Changping district over infringing on citizens' personal information, along with over 100,000 pieces of personal stocks investment and money management records. The suspects confessed that they have illegally profited over 200,000 Yuan by selling the information to loan companies and wealth management companies since 2016. Beijing police said they launched a campaign at the beginning of the year targeting hacker attacks, infringement on personal information, cyber fraud, online pornography, gambling and drug circulation. More than 980 Internet companies were penalized, 38,000 mobile applications removed and over 3.2 million pieces of illegal information cleaned up during the campaign, the police said.

Violators to Get Higher Fines in Draft Revision of Patent Law

People who violate patents will face higher fines, according to a draft revision to China’s patent law. The draft, submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, for the first review on December 23, aims to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and encourage innovations by IP holders. In the draft, the fine range for violators is raised from a minimum of 100,000 Yuan to 5 million Yuan when the loss to patent holders, and the benefits gained by violators, cannot be determined. The current range is from 10,000 Yuan to 1 million Yuan. Courts can take evidence provided by patent holders as a reference to calculate the amount of fines if violators do not offer or offer fake materials, the draft said. It also asks patent-related governmental departments to set up systems to offer patent information and data to further improve patent applications. It is the fourth revision to the patent law since 1984, with the latest amendment in 2008.