According to a regulatory filing on November 20, 2020 on Juchao Information Network, the statutory information disclosure platform of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court awarded NavInfo Co., Ltd. (北京四维图新科技股份有限公司) 64.5 million RMB (~$9.8 million USD) in a copyright infringement lawsuit involving maps used by the defendants Beijing Baidu Netcom Technology Co., Ltd., Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., and Baidu Cloud Computing Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.
Category: Copyright
China’s National People’s Congress Passes Amendments to Copyright Law Increasing Damages
On November 11, 2020, China’s National People’s Congress approved amendments to the Copyright Law. The amendments will become effective June 1, 2021. Some of the highlights include punitive damages for intentional infringement, an increase in statutory damages, and an increase in civil fines for copyright infringement.
Criminal Copyright Infringement of Alita Movie Leads to 4-Year Prison Sentence in China
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.
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.