How to keep up with the times in the protection of intellectual property rights

New technologies and new forms of business bring new challenges

How to keep up with the times in the protection of intellectual property rights

　Editor's note: A high level of intellectual property protection is an important guarantee for innovation and development. The protection of intellectual property rights is conducive to stimulating the innovation vitality of the whole society. April 26 is World Intellectual Property Day. This edition introduces the achievements of the construction of the mainland's intellectual property protection system in recent years, and discusses the measures to cope with the challenges of technological development under the new situation.

　　On April 23, the Beijing Internet Court pronounced a first-instance judgment on the country's first "AI voice infringement case", finding that the plaintiff engaged in dubbing work had the right to speak in the AI voice involved in the case, and the defendant's use of the plaintiff's voice and the development of the AI text-to-speech product involved in the case had not been legally authorized, which constituted infringement.

　　As the first AI-generated voice personality infringement case in China, this case has triggered deep thinking about the development of technology and the transformation of intellectual property protection.

　　This year, April 26 marks the 24th World Intellectual Property Day, with the theme "Intellectual Property and the Sustainable Development Goals: Building a Common Future through Innovation and Creativity".

　　What changes have taken place in the mainland's intellectual property protection system in recent years? What new intellectual property problems have arisen from the development of new forms of business and new technologies? And how will we deal with these problems? This reporter interviewed relevant experts for this purpose.

　　The intellectual property protection system is becoming more and more perfect

　　In recent years, the mainland has continued to promote the protection of intellectual property rights, and has successively issued documents such as the Outline for Building a Strong Intellectual Property Country (2021-2035) and the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, making the intellectual property protection system more perfect. This is mainly reflected in the gradual expansion of the scope of protection of intellectual property rights, and the continuous enhancement of the protection of intellectual property rights.

　　"Specifically, the content of intellectual property protection is expanding, the object of copyright protection has expanded from the traditional field to the Internet field, and the carrier of protected works has expanded from the traditional paper media and hard disk carriers to the virtual digital field. Huang Qiuping, a judge at the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, said that the protection of intellectual property types such as trademarks, patents and geographical indications has also begun to increasingly involve emerging fields such as digitalization, biomedicine and environmental protection.

　　Huang Qiuping said: "In terms of protection, the statutory compensation for intellectual property rights has been greatly increased, and the upper limit of statutory compensation under the Copyright Law, Trademark Law, Patent Law and Anti-Unfair Competition Law has been adjusted to 5 million yuan. ”

　　The Beijing Internet Court previously heard a copyright dispute involving a sports event program of the Tokyo Olympics. In this case, the defendant, as the operator of the news and information platform, continued to disseminate the event program footage in the form of GIFs during the Olympic Games on the premise of being informed of the copyright protection warning list issued by the National Copyright Administration, which infringed a number of copyrights and neighboring rights of the plaintiff, which subjectively constituted intent to infringe. According to the defendant's subjective malice and the severity of the circumstances, the court finally awarded the defendant 5 million yuan in compensation.

　　Zhang Qian, a judge at the Beijing Internet Court, said that the mainland's main intellectual property sector law has introduced a punitive damages system, which stipulates that punitive damages of 1-5 times can be applied to malicious infringement of intellectual property rights if the circumstances are serious. "This is of great significance in protecting the rights of rights holders, combating serious infringement of intellectual property rights, and deterring potential infringers. Zhang Qian said.

　　At the same time, the new generation of information technology is widely used in intellectual property protection, which promotes the continuous improvement of intellectual property service level.

　　For example, by using database technology and establishing an online registration system, it has become easier and more efficient to apply for and manage trademarks, copyrights, and patents. By analyzing big data models to discover potential infringements and market trends, it can help IP holders gain insight into industry dynamics and make strategic planning.

　　Huang Qiuping said that the application of digital technology will also reduce the cost of protecting intellectual property rights. For example, in the past, it was necessary to collect evidence through notarization for the preservation of evidence of infringement on the Internet, which not only took a long time and was expensive, but also required manual work, which was difficult to meet the requirements of timeliness of rights protection. However, the application of blockchain technology and the rise of third-party forensics platforms can enable rights holders to obtain infringement evidence and file lawsuits through cloud forensics in a timely manner, thereby stopping the expansion of infringement in a timely manner, reducing the losses of rights holders, and protecting intellectual property rights.

　　Technological developments bring new challenges

　　In December 2023, the Beijing Internet Court heard and adjudicated the "AI Wensheng Diagram" case. It clarifies that the images generated by AI are essentially still created by people using tools, and reflect the user's intellectual investment and personalized expression in the entire creation process, constituting works of art and are protected by copyright law.

　　Zhang Qian explained: "There is a certain ambiguity in the nature and ownership of rights generated by AI. The Copyright Law stipulates that the subject of a creative work can only be a person, and AI cannot become an author under the Copyright Law. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify whether the results created by humans through AI can become works under the Copyright Law and who should enjoy the relevant rights. ”

　　AI large-scale model training also poses a huge challenge to copyright protection. "Large model training requires massive amounts of data as learning materials. Whether the use of other people's works for large-scale model training without permission is an infringing use or fair use is a difficult problem that needs to be solved by copyright at present. At present, there are related lawsuits. Zhang Qian said.

　　Not only that, the new generation of information technology has accelerated its penetration into all walks of life, giving birth to many new formats, new products and new business models, which has also made intellectual property infringement complex and diverse.

　　Film piracy refers to the illegal recording and dissemination of films in cinemas or other screening venues without the authorization of the film copyright holder. "The copyright issues involved in film piracy include whether the mere shooting constitutes infringement, whether the spoiler itself is infringing because it affects the rights of the copyright owner, and whether the sharing of some clips with personal friends constitutes fair use. Huang Qiuping said that at present, "piracy" is not a legal concept, and the specific circumstances of the case should still be determined by the evidentiary conditions in the litigation scenario.

　　The problem of live broadcast speech refers to the copyright protection of the "small composition" or fixed sentence expression of the anchor in the process of live broadcasting. In Huang Qiuping's view, these expressions are still essentially literary works, which are subject to traditional legal conditions, and do not bring new challenges to the application of copyright law.

　　The issue of gameplay setting involves the copyright protection of the game rules in the "skinning game", that is, on the basis of the core gameplay of the previous game (gameplay rules, operation interface, skill system), etc., and only external factors such as character image design, name, and voice are changed. "The focus of such infringement disputes is whether the rules of the game are operational methods and whether they should be protected by copyright law. Huang Qiuping introduced that the previously identified methods such as the protection of game screen audiovisual works and software protection are no longer enough to cover all kinds of plagiarism and imitation between game developers, and the controversy over whether the game rules should be protected is gradually becoming prominent.

　　A multi-pronged approach to strengthen protection

　　Today, with the rapid iteration of various innovative technologies, the flow of data at an unprecedented rate, the difficulty of tracking and regulation, and the increasing number of new infringements in the field of intellectual property. In the face of the above-mentioned new infringement risks, how to effectively deal with them? Experts believe that the protection of intellectual property rights can be strengthened from the legislative, judicial, and administrative aspects.

　　At the legislative level, the legislature needs to continuously update and improve IP-related laws and regulations to meet the needs of technological development. For example, further advance the legislative work on the protection of data rights. Huang Qiuping believes that with the development of new technologies and the deepening of globalization, many countries and regions have successively revised and supplemented intellectual property laws. Based on the development of the mainland's industries, the legislature can learn from the legislation of other countries to make timely and comprehensive amendments to the law to meet the needs of the times and meet international standards.

　　At the judicial level, it is necessary to increase the degree of compensation for infringement, ensure that the trial of intellectual property cases is fair and efficient, and ensure that rights holders can obtain reasonable and timely relief. Huang Qiuping suggested that the release of typical cases should be strengthened, the standards of judicial adjudication should be unified, the positive role of judicial adjudication in social guidance should be brought into play, and judicial rules should be established through individual adjudication to guide the development of the industry.

　　"Judicial organs should also strengthen the establishment of adjudication rules and give play to the leading role of the judiciary. Zhang Qian believes that the court should make an appropriate interpretation of the existing legal provisions. Through the trial of typical cases, establish corresponding adjudication rules, standardize the behavior of relevant entities, and promote the healthy and long-term development of the industry.

　　Administrative organs should not only strengthen law enforcement legislation, but also improve the efficiency of supervision. "This includes increasing the frequency and severity of investigation and punishment of infringements on the Internet, regularly exposing illegal entities and investigation results, and enhancing the warning effect of negative cases. Huang Qiuping said.

　　In August last year, the mainland implemented the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services. The Measures mention that the provision and use of generative AI services shall respect intellectual property rights, business ethics, and keep trade secrets. Zhang Qian believes that the implementation of the measures provides a clear code of conduct for AI companies to carry out activities. For emerging frontier industries, the administrative authorities should not only protect and encourage their development, but also work together to regulate and supervise them.

　　From the perspective of relevant entities in the industry, Zhang Qian reminded: "When using the intellectual property rights of others, innovative entities must establish the basic concept of licensing before use, abandon the free-riding mentality of taking and getting for nothing, and avoid infringing on the intellectual property rights of others." ”

　　Huang Qiuping noted that the promotion of intellectual property protection is inseparable from the strong support of digital technology. She said that it is necessary to strengthen the use of blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data analysis and other tools to monitor the market, predict the market, improve the utilization rate and conversion rate of intellectual property rights, and protect and manage intellectual property rights.

Source: Science and Technology Daily