The list of the 2020 national top 10 pan-entertainment cases with greatest research value was recently released by the Shanghai Intellectual Property Academy. Two cases heard by the Beijing Internet Court (BIC), the iQiYi membership rights infringement case and the Dubbing Show App rights infringement case, were included in the list. 

Launching of the list is an effort to fully demonstrate the innovative achievements of China's courts, explore the academic research value of judicial cases, broaden thinking of case trials and strengthen judicial protection of China's pan-entertainment industry. The listed cases cover heated issues in judicial protection of the present pan-entertainment industry, such as foreign copyright ownership determination, MOBA game type determination, infringement aided by new internet business models, and validity of terms and conditions of “paid advance release”. 

The case of alleged damage done to membership rights by video website iQiYi

Wu, the plaintiff, a golden VIP member of China's video streamer iQiYi, filed a lawsuit against iQiYi for breaching the terms and conditions of its VIP membership agreement. The plaintiff said the platform had charged an additional fee to watch the popular Chinese period drama "Qing Yunian" — also known as "Joy of Life" — before its release date.

The court ordered iQiYi to pay 1,500 yuan ($210) in legal fees, in accordance with the plaintiff's demands, and added that the company had harmed the interests of the premium subscriber.

Experts said that this case has provided a solution to service providers' problem of balancing their profits with their clients' rights and interests by emphasizing that no revision of contract terms should be made that limits or harms the users' interests. 

The Dubbing Show APP copyright infringement case

The plaintiff discovered that their works were used by the Dubbing Show APP without authorization to attract users, which severely damaged the plaintiff’s right of information network dissemination.

This case has positive significance in that the court directed the Dubbing Show APP to examine its service scope, strengthen content screening and establish partnerships with more content producers and copyright authorities so as to build a healthy business model.