Chinese Copyright Registrations Up 19% in 2024

Posted on Categories Copyright, Statistics

Per a release (国版发函〔2025〕4号) from the National Copyright Administration of China dated February 28, 2025, the total number of copyright registrations in China for 2024 reached 10,630,610, a year-on-year increase of 19.13%.  Of these, 2,827,213 registrations were for computer software copyright registrations in 2024, an increase of 13.31% year-on-year.  Other copyright registrations totaled 7,802,965 in 2024, an increase of 21.39% year-on-year.

Guangdong Higher People’s Court: 107 Million RMB Settlement in Pokémon Copyright and Unfair Competition Case

Posted on Categories Case, Copyright, Unfair Competition

On February 21, 2025, Guangdong’s Higher People’s Court announced a settlement of 107 million RMB in favor of The Pokémon Company for copyright infringement and unfair competition. Pokémon had sued Guangzhou Mai Network Technology Co., Ltd., Huo Network Technology Co., Ltd. and others for copyright infringement and unfair competition disputes over the game “Pokémon: Remastered” in December 2021. Pokémon requested 500 million RMB and was awarded 107 million RMB in the first instance at the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court. The Guangdong High …

Supreme People’s Court: 82 Million RMB Verdict Against ByteDance for Copyright Infringement and Trade Secret Misappropriation

Posted on Categories Case, Copyright, Trade Secrets

On February 12, 2025, Beijing Meishe Network Technology Co., Ltd.  (北京美摄网络科技有限公司) announced that China’s Supreme People’s Court ruled against ByteDance for copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation awarding Meishe 82.668 million RMB.  Meishe alleged that ByteDance’s Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) infringed the copyright of Meishe’s SDK software. Several other ByteDance products also allegedly infringed.

Hangzhou Internet Court: Generative AI Output Infringes Copyright

Posted on Categories Case, Copyright

On February 10, 2025, the Hangzhou Internet Court announced that an unnamed defendant’s generative artificial intelligence’s (AI) generating of images constituted contributory infringement of information network dissemination rights, and ordered the defendant to immediately stop the infringement and compensate for economic losses and reasonable expenses of 30,000 RMB.