Micro-Business Management Softwares Constitute Substantial Similarities

Guangzhou Moubei Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Moubei Company) sued the three defendants, Beijing Mou Xiaoxiong Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Mou Xiaoxiong Company), Guangzhou Mouyi Network Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Mouyi Company), and Zhuo Mouxiang in Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court for suspected infringement of the copyright of its computer software “Yimei Micro-Business Price Control System V1.0” (hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff software). Moubei Company asked the court to order the three defendants to stop the infringement and compensate for economic losses and others of 1 million Yuan.

Recently, Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court made a first-instance judgment on the case. It found that the defendant software and the plaintiff software were substantially similar. The defendant software infringed the copyright of the plaintiff software. Mou Xiaoxiong Company and Mouyi company must immediately stop the infringement and delete the software involved. Mouyi Company was ordered to compensate for the economic losses and reasonable expenses of 300,000 Yuan to Moubei Company.

Moubei Company complained that under the background of rapid development of micro-business, it massively invested manpower and material resources in developing a software for micro-business management on March 7, 2016. In December 2017, Moubei Company found that Mou Xiaoxiong Company had used the accused software on its Wechat public account. Upon inquiry, Moubei Company found the source and provider of the software is the website xes.gzdy88.com. The website’s domain owner is Mouyi Company, and the applicant for registration of the domain name is Zhuo Mouxiang.

Zhuo Mouxiang, a former employee of Moubei Company, is currently employed by Mouyi Company and has a husband-wife relationship with Zhou Mouying, the supervisor of Mouyi Company. Moubei Company believed that the acts of the three defendants were suspected of infringing the copyright of its own software. Therefore, it sued Mouyi Company to court, requiring the court to order the three defendants to stop infringing its rights and compensate economic losses and others of 1 million Yuan.

After the hearing, Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court held that the software being sued and the plaintiff software were substantially similar, and the software being sued infringed the copyright of the plaintiff software. The court ordered Mouyi Company to compensate 300,000 Yuan for economic losses and reasonable expenses to Moubei Company.

Currently, the case is still within the appeal period.

August 22, 2019

Source: epaper.iprchn.com

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