Youku sued Baidu for infringement of "Sansheng III" reproduced copyright dispute

On April 5, the official website of Haidian Court showed that Youku sued Beijing Baidu Netcom Technology Co., Ltd., the operator of Baidu's online disk, to the court on the grounds of infringing on the network dissemination rights of its works, demanding Baidu Netcom to compensate 2 million yuan for economic losses and reasonable rights protection. Expenditure of 30,000 yuan.

Original title: Sansheng III cited the dispute Youku v. Baidu Online Disk Infringement

as a storage tool. Online disks have gradually become a necessity for Internet users, but functions such as sharing online disks have also made it a way to spread infringing and pirated content. On April 5, the official website of Haidian Court showed that Youku sued Beijing Baidu Netcom Technology Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as "Baidu Netcom"), the operator of Baidu's online disk, to the court on the grounds of infringing on the network dissemination rights of its works, demanding Baidu Netcom compensation for economic losses of 2 million yuan and reasonable expenses for rights protection of 30,000 yuan.

Youku claimed that in 2016, Youku signed a "Power of Attorney" with Shanghai Juku Culture Communication Co., Ltd., the copyright owner of the TV series "Sansheng Sanshi Shili Peach Blossom", and legally enjoyed the information network communication rights of the work "Sansheng Sanshi Shili Peach Blossom". However, after the TV series was broadcast, many registered users in Baidu's online disk used the storage space and "sharing" function of Baidu's online disk to push the download resources of "Sansheng III Ten Miles Peach Blossom" to social platforms. Although Youku sent a "Notice of Request for Removal of Infringement Works" to Baidu Netcom, Baidu Netcom did not take any simple retrieval and blocking measures, and infringing video downloads and online playback still frequently appear on Baidu's online disk. Youku believes that this move has violated its right to disseminate information online.

"According to the relevant laws and regulations of our country, if the rights holder believes that the work involved in the service infringes on his own information network dissemination rights for a network service provider that provides information storage space or provides search and linking services, he may submit a written notice to the network service provider requesting the network service provider to delete, block the work or disconnect the link to the related work. Judging from the above cases, if Baidu Netcom disconnects the link to the infringing work after receiving the notice from the right holder, it will not be liable for compensation; if it knows or should know that the linked work is infringing, Baidu Netcom should bear joint infringement liability. For users, using online disks as personal storage space does not constitute infringement, but if online disks are used to publicly disseminate movies and other resources, it will constitute infringement." Zhao Hu, a lawyer at Beijing City Zhongwen Law Firm, said this.

Public data shows that with the development of Internet technology, online disk has become the hardest hit area for film and television infringement. In addition to "Three Lives of Ten Miles Peach Blossom", hit dramas such as "Nirvana in Fire" and "Tomb Robbing Notes" also have a large number of sharing links on Baidu's online disk. Since 2017, Youku alone has monitored more than 160,000 infringing links on Baidu's online disk. Many users even make money by sharing infringing links to online disks with online users, with a maximum income of tens of thousands of yuan. A series of film and television infringements are not only detrimental to the healthy development of the entire film industry, but are also quite serious infringements to copyright owners. Domestic films lose more than 1 billion yuan every year.

Repeated prohibitions on film and television infringement have led the government to increase supervision. Online disk has also become a key area for rectification by national regulatory authorities on many occasions. The previous net action and the "Notice on Regulating the Copyright Order of Online disk Services" issued by the National Copyright Administration are aimed at standardizing the copyright order of online disk services. But at present, it seems that the rapid development of the Internet has undoubtedly cast a shadow on the fight against piracy and infringement. While giving users virtual identities on the Internet, it also makes investigation more difficult. In addition to strengthening supervision and increasing punishment to curb infringement, Internet service providers should crack down on infringing content, and users should also strengthen their copyright awareness.

Editor: Nancy