Page 140 - 2019 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
P. 140
9 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
transformed into Ruimingte Company, its liability for to the hard disk as a cache for users to read; when
infringement shall be assumed by Ruimingte Company. the users leave the page they are reading, the cache
will be automatically deleted. However, based on the
Significance: This case pertains to the protection of fact confirmed by the examination, after the alleged
trade secrets. Due to the complexity and difficulty of “temporarily copied” contents were transmitted to
discovering a trade secret, the review of cases regarding the users triggering the “transcoding”, “Yicha.cn” did
trade secret can be very challenging. In particular, not delete the corresponding content from the hard
protection of trade secrets resulting from employee disk of its server immediately, and the content of the
resignations has always been difficult in judicial “copied” novels could still be reused by other users. Such
practice. The judgment in this case gives a detailed and actions were clearly beyond the procedures necessary
comprehensive interpretation of the important legal for transcoding. Therefore, “Yicha.cn” directly provided
issues such as “the information unknown to the public”, literary works involved in this case to its online users.
“measures for confidentiality”, “commercial value” and Yicha Company’s transmission of over 500 copyrighted
determination of compensation liability in the cases of works of literature of others, without copyright owners’
trade secrets, which provides guidance for review on permission, is severe, and shall be held liable for crime
the similar cases. In addition, this case emphasizes the of copyright infringement. As the person directly in
confidential obligations upon employee resignation. charge of Yicha Company, Yu Dong shall assume the
criminal responsibility for copyright infringement. Yicha
“Yicha.cn” Copyright Infringement Company and Yu Dong, in this case, were imposed less
punishment as Yu Dong surrendered and confessed
Crime of infringement on copyright by Beijing Yicha his crime, and were forgiven by the infringed company
Wuxian Information Technology Co., Ltd. and Yu Dong through compensation. Considering the situation
[(2015) Pudong Criminal (Intellectual Property) First and consequences of the crime in this case, the Court
Hearing No. 12 Criminal judgment issued by Shanghai imposed a fine on Yicha Company pursuant to the law,
Pudong New Area People’s Court]. and Yu Dong received a suspended sentence and a fine.
Yicha Company and Yu Dong did not file an appeal from
Case Summary: The Defendant, Beijing Yicha the judgment.
Wuxian Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter,
“Yicha Company”) is the operator of “Yicha.cn”. Its Significance: Transcoding technology is increasingly
legal representative and technical director, Yu Dong, common due to the development of mobile reading. This
proposed a scheme of developing novel products for is a criminal case of copyright infringement for improper
devices with touch screens. Yicha.cn transcoded WEB use of transcoding by a mobile reading website. The
novel pages into WAP pages accessible for mobile users. judgment of this case illustrates the features and the
With the hard disk of Yicha Company’s server seized and limits necessary for use of “transcoding technology”, and
detained by the public security organ, the examination defined the lines to determine whether the acts through
personnel built the “Yicha.cn” in the LAN environment, “transcoding” shall be punished or not, based on the
and discovered that novels could be searched, read, and essence of transmission of online information. This case
downloaded from the website. After comparing 798 illustrates, in an era of rapid development of technology,
novels downloaded from the hard disk with the novels the criteria for judicial protection of intellectual property
in the same title with copyright owned by Xuanting to clearly define whether the relevant technology
Company, they confirmed that there were 588 novels violates the law or infringes on others’ legal rights,
with the same bytes as those in the said copyrighted while such protection retains technology neutrality.
novels accounting for more than 70 percent of the Use of technology as a shield for serious infringement
total bytes. The Defendant and his defender claimed can subject to criminal punishment, and thus shall be
that the idea for development of Yicha.cn was to punishable pursuant to laws. The judgment, in this case,
provide searching and transcoding services instead of fully displays that People’s Courts are capable of dealing
services for providing contents. That means, when the with new types of crimes due to development of science
users search and click to read the content, the source and technology.
webpage will be transcoded, and temporarily copied
140
transformed into Ruimingte Company, its liability for to the hard disk as a cache for users to read; when
infringement shall be assumed by Ruimingte Company. the users leave the page they are reading, the cache
will be automatically deleted. However, based on the
Significance: This case pertains to the protection of fact confirmed by the examination, after the alleged
trade secrets. Due to the complexity and difficulty of “temporarily copied” contents were transmitted to
discovering a trade secret, the review of cases regarding the users triggering the “transcoding”, “Yicha.cn” did
trade secret can be very challenging. In particular, not delete the corresponding content from the hard
protection of trade secrets resulting from employee disk of its server immediately, and the content of the
resignations has always been difficult in judicial “copied” novels could still be reused by other users. Such
practice. The judgment in this case gives a detailed and actions were clearly beyond the procedures necessary
comprehensive interpretation of the important legal for transcoding. Therefore, “Yicha.cn” directly provided
issues such as “the information unknown to the public”, literary works involved in this case to its online users.
“measures for confidentiality”, “commercial value” and Yicha Company’s transmission of over 500 copyrighted
determination of compensation liability in the cases of works of literature of others, without copyright owners’
trade secrets, which provides guidance for review on permission, is severe, and shall be held liable for crime
the similar cases. In addition, this case emphasizes the of copyright infringement. As the person directly in
confidential obligations upon employee resignation. charge of Yicha Company, Yu Dong shall assume the
criminal responsibility for copyright infringement. Yicha
“Yicha.cn” Copyright Infringement Company and Yu Dong, in this case, were imposed less
punishment as Yu Dong surrendered and confessed
Crime of infringement on copyright by Beijing Yicha his crime, and were forgiven by the infringed company
Wuxian Information Technology Co., Ltd. and Yu Dong through compensation. Considering the situation
[(2015) Pudong Criminal (Intellectual Property) First and consequences of the crime in this case, the Court
Hearing No. 12 Criminal judgment issued by Shanghai imposed a fine on Yicha Company pursuant to the law,
Pudong New Area People’s Court]. and Yu Dong received a suspended sentence and a fine.
Yicha Company and Yu Dong did not file an appeal from
Case Summary: The Defendant, Beijing Yicha the judgment.
Wuxian Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter,
“Yicha Company”) is the operator of “Yicha.cn”. Its Significance: Transcoding technology is increasingly
legal representative and technical director, Yu Dong, common due to the development of mobile reading. This
proposed a scheme of developing novel products for is a criminal case of copyright infringement for improper
devices with touch screens. Yicha.cn transcoded WEB use of transcoding by a mobile reading website. The
novel pages into WAP pages accessible for mobile users. judgment of this case illustrates the features and the
With the hard disk of Yicha Company’s server seized and limits necessary for use of “transcoding technology”, and
detained by the public security organ, the examination defined the lines to determine whether the acts through
personnel built the “Yicha.cn” in the LAN environment, “transcoding” shall be punished or not, based on the
and discovered that novels could be searched, read, and essence of transmission of online information. This case
downloaded from the website. After comparing 798 illustrates, in an era of rapid development of technology,
novels downloaded from the hard disk with the novels the criteria for judicial protection of intellectual property
in the same title with copyright owned by Xuanting to clearly define whether the relevant technology
Company, they confirmed that there were 588 novels violates the law or infringes on others’ legal rights,
with the same bytes as those in the said copyrighted while such protection retains technology neutrality.
novels accounting for more than 70 percent of the Use of technology as a shield for serious infringement
total bytes. The Defendant and his defender claimed can subject to criminal punishment, and thus shall be
that the idea for development of Yicha.cn was to punishable pursuant to laws. The judgment, in this case,
provide searching and transcoding services instead of fully displays that People’s Courts are capable of dealing
services for providing contents. That means, when the with new types of crimes due to development of science
users search and click to read the content, the source and technology.
webpage will be transcoded, and temporarily copied
140
