The Supreme People's Court has announced the first list of eight winners of innovation awards for reforms among courts across China. The e-copyright litigation-source co-governance model from the Beijing Internet Court (BIC) is on the list.

Picture copyright cases account for more than half of the total copyright cases accepted by the BIC. In a bid to solve internet-related intellectual property rights cases at the source, the BIC worked extensively on policy research, online surveys and inter-departmental coordination and launched the e-copyright litigation-source co-governance model in July 2020.

I. Tianping Blockchain docked with "copyright chain" to enhance litigation quality and efficiency

Partnering with the Beijing Copyright Protection Center (BCPC), the BIC docked its Tianping Blockchain with the BCPC's "copyright chain", which means the digital copyright registration certificate issued by the BCPC will be available on the BIC's Tianpin Blockchain. When the plaintiff files a case at the BIC, they can obtain the certificate immediately for verification and retrieve the picture materials archived at the BCPC, which greatly reduces the difficulty of proof.

With the docking of the two chains, the BIC further strengthened examination of the ownership and authorization of pictures, issued Q&As for trials of similar cases, formulated rights confirmation rules for copyright judicial review and achieved synchronization of judicial determination standards and administrative copyright registration supervision standards. During trials, the BIC can access copyright registration materials archived at the BCPC related to the case and conduct cross-chain verification, which significantly improves trial quality and efficiency.

II. Linking litigation and non-litigation resolution platforms to jointly solve copyright disputes

A mediation platform was built and a comprehensive mechanism combining litigation and non-litigation platforms with joint participation of related institutions was formulated. Litigants can go to the BIC's mediation platform for "cloud" mediation before they enter litigation. Judges are available online for professional guidance. With the launch of the mediation platform, 29 mediation organizations have been invited to provide full process online mediation services. A number of picture copyright disputes have been successfully resolved, involving 15 photographers and over 60,000 pictures. More than 4,000 ready-for-prosecution cases have been settled through the mediation platform.

III. Authentic copyrighted picture database to guide the orderly operation of copyright market

With the guidance of the BIC and the Capital Copyright Society, Baidu, a major search engine in China, launched an authentic copyrighted picture database initiative. All pictures registered at the "copyright chain" are entitled to be included in the database. With the docking of the "copyright chain" picture database with Baidu's picture search, Baidu will prioritize display of those pictures in the "copyright chain" database. Baidu users are guided to purchase and download those pictures. The database was launched on Baidu on Jan 21, 2021 and has been functioning properly.

Based on the database, the Capital Copyright Industry Alliance and the BCPC jointly launched a picture copyright protection platform in the first half of 2021, and established a new litigation mechanism for picture copyright protection based on the synchronization between the Tianping Blockchain and the "copyright chain". To date, 5,000 copyright infringement cases have completed copyright confirmation, monitoring and notarization, and are in the process of public release, reconciliation or mediation.