According to an October 27, 2020 report in the People’s Court Daily, the People’s Court of Fangcheng County, Henan Province recently sentenced 8 defendants to prison for copyright infringement of several movies including “Alita: Battle Angel” and several Chinese movies. The Court sentenced the defendant Wang to four years in prison and fined him 1.5 million yuan. The other defendants were sentenced from one year and two months in prison to three years and six months in prison.
Category: Copyright
China Releases Antitrust Guidelines for Intellectual Property
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation released the Antitrust (also referred to as Anti-Monopoly) Guidelines of the Antitrust Committee of the State Council on the Field of Intellectual Property (国务院反垄断委员会关于知识产权领域的反垄断指南). The guidelines are dated January 4, 2019 but only officially released on September 18, 2020. The guidelines cover Intellectual Property Agreements That May Exclude or Restrict Competition; Abuse of Dominant Market Position Involving Intellectual Property Rights; Concentration of Operators Involving Intellectual Property Rights; and other Circumstances, such as patent pooling.
China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases Opinions on Increasing Sanctions for Intellectual Property Infringement
The Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China released the “Opinions on Increasing the Punishment of Intellectual Property Infringement Acts According to Law” (关于依法加大知识产权侵权行为惩治力度的意见) on September 15, 2020. The opinions confirm the primacy of injunctions and potentially increases the amount of monetary damages typically awarded. The opinions also cover strengthening evidence preservation and increasing criminal enforcement of the intellectual property laws. Notably, the opinions amend Article 20 (now Article 15) from the draft opinions by removing a foreigner-targeted clause, …
Shanghai Third Intermediate Court Announces Sentencing of Criminal Lego Infringers
On September 2, 2020, just 6 months after the Shanghai People’s Procuratorate announced the criminal copyright prosecution of Lego infringers, the Shanghai Third Intermediate Court has announced the sentencing of the same 9 people to up to 6 years in jail and a 90 million RMB (~$13 million USD) fine. The group of 9 had sold over 300 million RMB of infringing products under the Lepin (乐拼) brand and had over 30 million RMB of infringing products stored ready for …