What can the "television box" copyright war fought?

Following the initial case of LeTV's prosecution of the fine case and the case of Xiaomi's case, the CCTV International sued Beijing Meilian Company and VST's all-convergence website. In fact, the hidden dangers of Internet set-top box infringement are not unique in China. The reporter learned from the Copyright Protection Seminar involving the set-top box recently held by the Shenzhen Copyright Association and the Guangzhou Office of the United States Patent and Trademark Office that the US Internet TV market is also facing severe piracy. problem.

According to industry insiders, the domestic Internet set-top box industry has become a high-profile area of ​​copyright infringement by establishing its own video platform, cooperating with unauthorized aggregation platforms, and unlicensed video websites. Failure to curb the copyright infringement of internet set-top boxes will greatly dampen the creative enthusiasm of copyright holders and seriously endanger the development of the cultural industry.


Hidden Trouble in Market Development Intensifies Dual Regulation of Administration and Justice

In the seminar mentioned above, Si Xiao, general manager of Tencent Group's Public Strategic Research Department, introduced that the 35th China Internet Development Statistics Report released by the China Internet Network Information Center showed that the number of Internet TV and box users has exceeded 100 million. Among users who use TV to watch online video, 70% of users watch through Internet set-top boxes.

The set-top box market is booming, and the hidden dangers of infringement also follow. In an interview with a China Intellectual Property News reporter, He Yingchao, a judge of the Fourth Civil Division of the Changping District People's Court in Beijing, said that at present, the regulation of internet set-top boxes is mainly focused on two aspects: first, policy supervision at the administrative level, and second, copyright owners at the judicial level. Filed a copyright infringement complaint.

It is understood that at present, China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television uses the “centralized” mode of operation for content services and integrated broadcast and control services to control the content of programs. For example, according to the requirements for the operation and management of an Internet TV licensee (namely the 181 in the industry), Internet TV set-top boxes and other terminal products require that "only the Internet TV integration platform can be connected, and terminal products must not have other access to the Internet. It is not allowed to connect with the network management company's related management system or database, and the Internet TV integration platform can only select the legitimate content service platform established by the Internet Television Content Service Agency approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and the TV drama in the Internet TV content service. On-demand services and graphic information services can be carried out by radio and television broadcasting agencies in cooperation with agencies that have copyright resources."

How Infringement Types Are Increasingly Diversified

With the development of the Internet set-top box market, CCTV International’s relevant person in charge told reporters that the way in which set-top box products provide programs is becoming more and more diverse, and its content infringement forms are also different. From the existing judgment analysis, He Yingchao thinks that the type of Internet set-top box infringement can be roughly divided into two categories: First, according to the provisions of Article 181, Internet STB producers and the integrated broadcast control platform have signed a cooperation agreement to spread film and television works through Internet set-top boxes; The second is the preset playback software in the Internet set-top box, which spreads the film and television works by playing software. The playback software may be developed by the Internet set-top box producers themselves, or may be authorized by a third-party playback software developer, or may be a third-party playback software that can be downloaded from public channels.

Among them, the set-top box hardware + playback software is the mainstream mode of the Internet set-top box to achieve the playback function. In such infringement cases, copyright owners often sue the internet set-top box producers to the court for infringement on the grounds of infringement, and set-top box producers defend themselves against the mere provision of search link services. He Yingchao believes that the premise of determining whether Internet set-top box producers assume tort liability is mainly to determine whether they are network content service providers or network technology service providers. If the Internet set-top box producer and the player software operator are the same entity, then the Internet set-top box producer shall be responsible for the behavior of the player software providing the artwork. Set-top box producers bear direct liability for infringement. If the two are not the same subject, it is necessary to determine whether the Internet set-top box manufacturer is faulty on the premise of distinguishing whether the playback software constitutes infringement.

In addition, He Yingchao also pointed out that at present there are two kinds of Internet set-top boxes on the market: one without pre-installed playback software, but it provides an application store with a system that can quickly download a variety of playback software, a preset cracked version Frequency website client. Although these two types of set-top box infringements have not yet been brought to court, they may emerge in the future.


Experts suggest that the development of the industry will work together to avoid copyright risks

The reporter learned from the interview that the copyright infringement case of Internet set-top boxes has attracted the attention of relevant courts and conducted investigations.

In order to circumvent the copyright risk brought by set-top boxes, He Yingchao suggested that, for broadcast software operators, they should obtain authorization from the copyright owner in providing works, performances, and audio and video products. If they only provide technical services such as search links, they should be aware of After searching for the infringements of the linked websites, the necessary measures such as deleting, shielding, and disconnecting links shall be taken in a timely manner to prevent the further expansion of the losses; for the Internet set-top box producers, the software or cooperative broadcasting platform for the Internet set-top boxes shall be pre-configured and its internal film and television. The works do their duty of care and sign intellectual property rights agreements to avoid their own risks. When knowing the infringement of its built-in software or cooperative broadcast platform, it should take necessary measures in time. In addition, as the State Radio and TV Department has policy provisions for the set-top box industry, set-top box producers should also comply with the state's administrative regulations in the course of their production and operation.

Faced with the problem of set-top box infringement, Chen Yan, secretary general of the Shenzhen Copyright Association, believes that, in order not to limit the development and application of new technologies, the current copyright law has made reasonable arrangements and stipulated certain exemption clauses; on the other hand, How technology develops, and when large-scale, commercialized dissemination of other people's works must be licensed and paid. Si Xiao believes that in order to combat the infringement of set-top boxes, video site operators should insist on genuine operations; rights holders should actively safeguard their rights and strengthen copyright protection.