2011 Top 10 IP Cases in China’s Software Industry:the eighth

Key point: criminal crime

Typical Network Copyright Infringement Case in Heilongjiang Province Concluded, Two Defendants End up in Jail

Case summary: According to Heilongjiang Press and Publication Administration, in March 2012, the Lingdong District People’s Court in Shuangyashan City concluded the first instance trail of the ZT Online copyright infringing case which was reported on March 15th, 2011. Defendants Liu Li and Yu Yang constituted copyright infringement.
 
Liu Li was sentenced to three years imprisonment and ordered to pay a penalty of 200,000 yuan; Yu Yang was sentenced to two years imprisonment (two years’ probation), and ordered to pay a penalty of 125,000 yuan. The case was a rather typical case uncovered during Heilongjiang’s 2011 special campaign of combating IP infringements and counterfeits. The trial process was supervised by the National Copyright Administration of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the People’s Republic of China, among other bodies and interested parties.
 
Expert comments: Defendants Liu Li and Yu Yang set up unofficial servers through the network to obtain commercial profits without the authorization of the right holder, operated the game illegally in the form of membership, and spread copyrighted computer software to the public. The conducts of the two defendants constituted copyright infringement and their illegal income was huge. The court therefore rendered above average criminal judgments according to relative provisions in China’s Criminal Law.