Users madly spread the hit drama Youku through online disks and claimed 1 million yuan in the first trial against Baidu

Both parties have appealed after sentencing

A report from our newspaper (reporter Zhu Jianyong) thinks that the right to spread information on the network of the hit drama "Three Lives, Three Lives, Ten Miles Peach Blossoms" has been violated, and Youku has filed a lawsuit against Baidu to the court. On December 20, the reporter of Beijing Youth Daily learned that the Haidian Court pronounced a judgment on the case, and the court decided Baidu to compensate economic losses of 1 million yuan and reasonable expenses of 30000 yuan in the first instance.

The reporter of Beiqing Daily learned that this case was the first case in China in which the online disk service provider was ordered to bear compensation liability for being negligent in taking shielding measures to stop users from infringing and sharing popular TV dramas, and it also set a record for the amount of compensation awarded in similar cases nationwide.

The plaintiff Youku sued that it was authorized to enjoy the exclusive right to use the information network transmission of the popular film and television work "Three Lives, Three Lives, Ten Miles Peach Blossoms" (hereinafter referred to as the works involved in the case). Since the first round of broadcast of the works involved in the case on Satellite TV, though Youku sent an early warning letter and 78 right notification emails, more than 11000 links of Baidu online disk users sharing the video files of the works involved in the case through online disk services were obtained. Baidu has not timely disconnected the infringing link and deleted the video file, has not taken measures such as blocking repeated infringing users in a timely manner, and has not taken technical measures to block users from uploading, storing, and sharing the video file of the work involved in the case, so it should bear the tort liability. Therefore, the court appealed to Baidu to stop the infringement and compensate the economic loss of 29 million yuan and reasonable expenses of 30000 yuan.

The defendant Baidu argued that the video files of the works involved in the case were uploaded by Baidu online disk users to their personal accounts, and Baidu could not be required to view and process them; The sharing function of Baidu online disk is a kind of private sharing provided to users, while publishing the sharing link to microblog and other platforms is the user's behavior, which has nothing to do with the sharing function of Baidu online disk, and Baidu has disconnected all links involved in the case during the trial process; The economic losses and expenses claimed by Youku are too high.

The court held that Youku obtained the exclusive right to use the information network dissemination right of the works involved through legal authorization. Users use Baidu online disk service to upload video files to the server, generate links and share them to other websites or network platforms for dissemination, so that the public can obtain the works involved in the case at the selected time and place, that is, they directly violate the right to network dissemination of information about the works involved. Baidu did not disconnect all links involved in the case in time after receiving the notice, nor did it take restrictive measures such as blocking users who repeatedly committed infringement in a timely manner, which resulted in some subjective fault. At the same time, considering that Baidu has successively disconnected the infringing links after receiving the notice, but the infringing links have increased at a double speed in the last month of the first round of broadcasting of the works involved. Considering the nature and mode of Baidu's online disk service, the size of the possibility of causing infringement and its information management capabilities, Baidu has the ability but has not taken shielding measures to prevent users from sharing the links involved in the case, It shall be jointly and severally liable for the occurrence of corresponding damage consequences. Finally, the court made the above judgment.

After the sentence was pronounced, both parties have appealed.

Judges interpret the law

Letting go of link communication involved in the case should bear joint liability

The reporter of Beiqing Daily learned that the focus of the dispute in this case is whether Baidu knew or should have known that users used Baidu online disk services to create links and share video files of the works involved in the case but failed to take or timely take necessary measures, as well as the determination of tort liability.

The judge told the Beiqing Daily that about 64% of Baidu's links were disconnected on the same day after receiving the notice about the case, but it did not provide a reasonable explanation and proof for the reason why the rest of the links were not disconnected, and from the actual effect of preventing infringement, among the more than 11000 links involved in the case, nearly 4000 could be spread for more than 24 hours, More than 2000 for more than two days and nearly 1000 for more than three days. Since it was the hit period of the work involved at that time, and the relevant evidence showed that the popularity of the work and its hits on various video websites were enough to reflect its degree of public concern and popularity, it can be inferred from the total number of links involved in the case and the continuous emergence of a large number of new links involved in the case that before the above link was disconnected, It is very likely that it has attracted a considerable number of Internet users to browse and download the works involved in the case.

The court found that Baidu did not take measures to disconnect all links involved in the case in time after receiving the notice, and allowed some links involved in the case to continue to spread a large number of works involved in the case, resulting in further expansion of the scope and scale of infringement, and should bear joint and several liability with network users.