Ownership Right Evidence of Photos should be Examined 

photo by Xu Lixin from the press of intellectual property publicity week 

The Supreme People’s Court held a press conference on April 22 and introduced the arrangement of “intellectual property publicity week in 2019”. When asked about his opinion about Visual China incident, Lin Guanghai, deputy chief judge of Third Civil Division of Supreme People's Court, said that ownership right evidence of photos should be examined strictly and avoid simplistic and one-sided approaches such as identifying ownership just according to the watermark.

The annual report on intellectual property cases by Supreme People’s Court includes several relevant cases. The court’s opinion about photo ownership right protection are as follows:

Firstly, the principle of rule of law should be upheld, which means that right should be protected only when it’s worthy of being protected. Intellectual property should be strictly protected. However, fake copyright aiming for profits should never be protected if not punished. More importantly, acquisition and operation of copyright is a civil legal relationship that should follow the provisions of copyright laws.  Copyright-related market management and models also include administrative  management law relationship that should follow market regulatory and administrative rules. We’ve also noticed that relevant department has already ordered the site to end its illegal practices.

Secondly, ownership right evidence must be strictly examined in accordance with copyright laws and the implementation regulations. The time of the first publication must be examined carefully. The time added by the litigant himself and which can be changed easily should not be used as evidence.

Thirdly, since people are calling for increasing compensation for intellectual property infringement, copyright infringement should be no exception. However, the cost must be based on the market value which should be determine by referring to the normal market fees. If the amount is uncertain, the approximate market value should be taken as a reference.

April 23, 2019

Source: China Court