Case Introduction
Since 2021, the defendant Wang has sold over 10000 videos related to the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Junior Accountant (CPA) exams, which are copyrighted by a company, through online sales channels without the company's permission.
According to the confession of the defendant Wang, he joined an accounting firm as an auditor after graduating from a master's degree program in 2017. When I was preparing to take the Certified Public Accountant exam in 2018, I searched for corresponding course resources online and unexpectedly bought a pirated video of the CPA title exam from a certain company at a low price.
At first, these pirated courses were kept for personal use. Later, a classmate asked if it was possible to share the courses. At that time, I realized that if I were to resell the courses, I could also make some money. After posting the news of selling the courses online, some people expressed their desire to purchase course videos, so they packaged all the videos and sold them at a price of 50 yuan per copy. "Defendant Wang said in court.
Court trial
After trial, the court found that the defendant Wang, for the purpose of profit, disseminated his works to the public through information networks without the permission of the copyright owner. The circumstances were particularly serious, and his behavior constituted the crime of copyright infringement. Considering that the defendant Wang truthfully confessed to his criminal acts and voluntarily admitted guilt and punishment during the trial, he was given a lighter punishment in accordance with the law. The court ultimately made the above judgment.
Judge's Interpretation of the Law
Selling other people's course videos without authorization is a violation of their intellectual property rights. If the amount of illegal gains is large or the circumstances are serious, it constitutes a crime. Article 217, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that those who, for the purpose of profit, copy, distribute, or disseminate their written works, music, art, audio-visual works, computer software, and other works as stipulated by laws and regulations through information networks without the permission of the copyright owner, and whose illegal gains are relatively large or have other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and shall also be fined or fined separately; If the amount of illegal gains is huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and fined.
According to Article 13 of the Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Intellectual Property Infringement issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security, if someone disseminates another person's written works, music, movies, television, art, photography, video works, audio and video products, computer software, and other works to the public through information networks for the purpose of profit without the permission of the copyright owner, and the total number of disseminated works of another person is more than 500 pieces (parts), it belongs to the "other serious circumstances" stipulated in Article 217 of the Criminal Law; If the amount or quantity of the acts specified in the preceding paragraph reaches more than five times the standard specified in the preceding paragraph, it belongs to the "other particularly serious circumstances" stipulated in Article 217 of the Criminal Law.
The defendant Wang, for the purpose of profit, disseminated his works through information networks without the permission of the copyright owner. There were more than 10000 identical course videos, which constitutes the crime of copyright infringement due to "other particularly serious circumstances".
With the increasing improvement of the rule of law in our country, the state is paying more and more attention to the protection of intellectual property rights. But in life, there are always some people who want to get something for nothing and sell others' works for profit without realizing that this behavior violates the intellectual property rights of creators. They not only face economic compensation, but may even constitute a crime. Here is a reminder that respecting the labor achievements of others is a compulsory course for every citizen. Supporting genuine products, resisting piracy, and involving everyone in copyright protection can stimulate the driving force of social innovation.
This article is transferred from the WeChat official account of "Beijing Haidian Court". Thank you.