Publicized Ten Typical Copyright Cases of 2009 to Further Promote Copyright Protection Work

April 20, 2010    Source: Xinmin Evening News

Shanghai Copyright Bureau publicized ten typical copyright cases of 2009 in Shanghai today, which cover several fields and are representative cases selected by Shanghai’s copyright and justice departments from legally effective judgments made last year.

In comparison with the cases of former years, ten cases of last year have three features: firstly, copyright infringement cases involve large amount of money and complicated illegal means, and result in great social impact; secondly, the number of foreign-related cases increases; thirdly, the number of cases involving software and Internet copyright increases.

During the countdown to the World Expo and the hosting period thereof, Shanghai Copyright Bureau shall focus on the promotion of cultural environment and market order at the World Expo site and major spots, in key regions, and on important festival occasions, and firmly guard against and crack down all kind of copyright piracy and infringement acts, and illegal publications, so as to create a good image of Shanghai in protecting copyright.

● Case 1: installing computer software without authorization

As the defendant, a store of a certain computer company in Shanghai installed pirated software in the computers it marketed in advance and violated the copyright of the plaintiff, the court made a judgment ordering the defendant to stop the infringement without delay and pay 250,000 yuan in compensation for the economic loss incurred to the plaintiff.

● Case 2: decoding software series number

As a certain company in Hefei decoded the software series number by technical means after the licensing period expired, and intentionally damaged the technical measures taken by the copyright owner for protecting copyright, the court made a judgment ordering the defendant to pay 10,000 yuan in compensation for the loss, and 3,346 yuan for reasonable expenses incurred to the plaintiff.

● Case 3: publication of research reports without authorization

As a certain investment consulting company in Shanghai successively published on its finance-managing website 1630 research reports made by a securities company, and offered downloading service thereof without authorization, thus violating the copyright of the securities company, the court made a judgment ordering the defendant to pay about 130,000 yuan in compensation for economic loss and reasonable expenses incurred to the plaintiff.

● Case 4: duplication and marketing of pirated software

As a certain person called Ma marketed pirated software disks produced by others through the Internet sales platform by renting Internet space for exportation, and, together with others, organized the production and marketing of 442,000 pieces of pirated software disks, the court pronounced him guilty of copyright infringement and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of 8,600,000 yuan.

● Case 5: infringement of exclusive right of publication

As a certain publisher published Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms in simplified Chinese edition without the permission of the copyright owner of the original edition, and violated the exclusive right of the plaintiff, the court made a judgment ordering the defendant to stop the infringement and pay 50,000 yuan in compensation for the economic loss incurred to the plaintiff.

● Case 6: installing software without authorization

As a certain company in Shanghai installed and used 9 pieces of software including Microsoft Window XP Professional for 130 times, the court made a judgment ordering the defendant to stop the infringement and pay 400,000 yuan in compensation for the economic loss incurred to the plaintiff.

● Case 7: illegal dissemination of films

As a certain Internet service provider in Shanghai offered the download of software and free download of films found by searching, the court made a judgment ordering the defendant to stop the infringement and pay 20,000 yuan in compensation for the economic loss incurred to the plaintiff.

● Case 8: use of infringing software

As a certain company in Suzhou used software in control apparatuses it produced and violated the computer software copyright of the plaintiff, the court made a judgment ordering the defendant to pay 300,000 yuan in compensation for the economic loss incurred to the plaintiff.

● Case 9: publication of others’ works without authorization

As a certain investment management company in Shanghai published many written works of Xinhua News Agency on its finance-managing website and other terminals without authorization, Shanghai Copyright Bureau order it to stop the infringement and imposed a fine of 20,000 yuan.

● Case 10: marketing pirated disks

A certain person called Wu, together with others, purchased a large quantity of pirated audio and video disks from Guangdong and other places, and marketed them without restraint, making an illegal gain of 360,000 yuan; a certain person called Ling purchased pirated audio and video disks from Wu and marketed them in the Internet shop registered on www.taobao.com. The court sentenced Wu and Ling to fixed-term imprisonment and criminal detention respectively.