Issue involved:
This case marks the first dispute in China involving copyright infringement concerning the dissemination of works through an IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) system. The court addressed the emerging issue of liability determination for such infringements.
This case has been selected as one of the “Top Ten Hot Copyright Cases of 2024 by AIPPI China,” one of the “Top Ten IP Cases in the Smart Internet Vehicle Industry of 2024,” and one of the “Top Ten Typical Cases of Service Guarantee for New Productive Forces” by the Beijing Internet Court.
Mengchun’s Comments:
- Our team arranged for conducting a thorough investigation and evidence collection of the alleged infringement, fully getting closer to the facts of the case, and thoroughly investigating the collaboration and revenue distribution between the IVI system software operator and the video platform. These endeavors provided a solid basis for accurately telling the roles and defining the infringement relationships between the IVI system software operator and the video platform.
- In terms of the infringement of videos on the IVI system in this case, our team spent a lot of effort and time to compare the Work and the infringing video carefully and filed to the court with a written comparison sheet, which laid a solid foundation for determining the infringement in this case.
- To facilitate the Panel to quickly and clearly understand the case, the case team leveraged litigation visualization measures including mind maps, PPTs, images, and videos to clearly show the specific form of each defendant’s infringement to the judges.
- On the liability bearing of the defendants. Our team carefully researched and sorted out the evidence on the case, made detailed theoretical reasonings on the constitution and bearing of joint and several infringement liability between the defendants from aspects such as joint development, joint operation, and joint profits, and finally convinced the court to hold that the IVI system software operator and the video platform shall bear joint and several liability for their infringement.
Summary of the First Instance Judgment:
- The contents available to IQIYI in-vehicle App users were provided by IQIYI. Although the alleged infringing videos might have been initially uploaded by users, it was IQIYI who uploaded the videos to the web server of the IQIYI in-vehicle App and provided them for its users. Therefore, IQIYI infringed upon Tencent’s right to dissemination of the Work through information network.
- On the liability assumption of all parties, the Court further found that Xpeng was the manufacturer of XPEV and was mainly responsible for the hardware manufacturing of XPEV. There was no evidence indicating that Xpeng was involved in the operations relating to the IVI system and application concerned, and it was not involved in the provision of the infringing videos, thus it shall not bear liability for the infringement.
- Zhipeng V2X was the provider of the IVI system and application management services for XPEV. According to the In-vehicle Video Collaboration Agreement executed between Zhipeng V2X and IQIYI, IQIYI was responsible for the content provision on the IQIYI App in-vehicle client. Zhipeng V2X was responsible for the launch, display, and marketing of the IQIYI App in-vehicle client in the IVI system. The evidence collection process also showed that the users of XPEV in-vehicle clients could only use the services of their IVI system and application via their proprietary accounts. In addition, subscription plans were also provided and Zhipeng V2X was the recipient of the subscription fees. Zhipeng V2X was thus the participant and beneficiary of the provision of the Work concerned, and shall bear the joint and several liability with IQIYI.
- in summary, the Beijing Internet Court found that the infringement was established, and ordered IQIYI and Zhipeng V2X to jointly indemnify Tencent against financial losses and reasonable expenses of CNY 500,000 in total.
Court:
Beijing Internet Court
Final Decision Date:
2024
Case No.:
(2023) 京0491民初11731号
(2023) Jing 0491 Min Chu No. 11731
