Typical Cases
【Case Briefing】
The offender, Mr. Tu, registered a domain name of ww.91cad.com in August 2004. By renting some sever spaces he launched a “Doudou” Software website. In August 2005, he expanded the rented server spaces. The offender started to sell infringing software through the website. The infringing software for sale included such famous ones as Adobe and Autodesk. The customers could contact him through mobile phone Xiaolingtong cell phones. He would sell those copied discs at a price of RMB 100 plus service fee RMB 100 and receive payment on delivery.
In March 2006, the Municipal Copyright Bureau started investigation into the presence of “Doudou” Website and the fact of infringement based on the complaints of the copyright owner. The Bureau seized bunch of pirate copies, internet terminal equipments and unlawful gains. The written decision of administrative penalty was delivered on September 6, 2006.
【Result of Disposition】
The decision of administrative penalty included: i. to make the offender stop the infringement; ii. to confiscate one computer; iii. to confiscate 320 infringing copies (discs); iv. to strip the offender of unlawful gain in the amount of RMB 17,200; v. to fine the offender of RMB 40,000.
【Case Analysis】
In this case, the offender managed to sell through the platform of internet the copies of software. Because of the efficiency and extensiveness of internet, to sell pirate copies through internet is one way harmful than selling through traditional channels.
With the rapid growth of internet technology, the infringement to copyright using the internet is on the rise. Some of the websites have been dedicated to the unlawful download of film, music, software and text of literature works. Some also provides private services and commission services to internet game players. This not only seriously infringes the interests of the copyright owners and other related right owners, but also brings disorder to the society. Meantime, the reputation of our country has been largely undermined.
Our country is under the progress of perfecting related legislation and enforcement. The Information Network Dissemination Right Protection Rules promulgated on July 1, 2006 has provided a powerful weapon against copyright infringement. The handling of this case fully indicated that no matter how complicated the internet technology, how covered up the fact of infringement using internet, and how hard to enforce the law, Shanghai copyright administrative department resolves to crack down internet copyright infringers and safeguard the dignity of the legal system in terms of internet copyright.
