Attorney-at-law:   Liu Ping
 
Case Summary:
The “Cases of Claims for Damages against Karaoke Operators Using MTV without Authorization” were regarded as China’s top ten cases in 2004, and the case of copyright infringement dispute between Go East Entertainment Company Limited and Beijing Pure Music Entertainment Co., Ltd. over the presentation of its MV works without permission was the first one of the series of “Cases of Claims for Damages against Karaoke Operators Using MTV without Authorization”. The favorable judgment of this case has laid an unshakeable legal foundation for the act of protecting the projection right of MV works, which was carried out nationwide thereafter, and is the first judicial practice with respect to the projection right in the Copyright Law. The standard of compensation determined in this case was adopted in many similar cases afterwards, and even became a theoretical basis for the current Karaoke copyright charging system.
 
In June, 2003, Go East Entertainment Company Limited filed a civil lawsuit for copyright protection against Beijing Pure Music Entertainment Co., Ltd. on the ground that Beijing Pure Music Entertainment Co., Ltd. had used without permission three songs to which Go East Entertainment Company Limited has copyrights, including “I Do Care about You”, “Light Year” and “Huiqing” by Hong Kong Singer Kelly Chen, and requested Beijing Pure Music Entertainment Co., Ltd. to stop infringing the right of Go East Entertainment Company Limited to show the MV works, apologize publicly and compensate for the economic losses.
 
Abstract of Court Judgment: 
Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court held: MTV works are those created by producers in a way similar to the production of films, and fall in the category of works created in a way similar to the production of films as prescribed in the Copyright Law, and shall be protected by the Copyright Law. The producers of MTV works are the copyright owners of the works. Any act of showing the works without permission of the copyright owners is an act of infringing the copyright.
 
The court judgment is as follows:
I.     Defendant Beijing Pure Music Entertainment Co., Ltd. shall stop its act of infringing the copyright of plaintiff Go East Entertainment Company Limited from the effective date of this judgment;
II.    Defendant Beijing Pure Music Entertainment Co., Ltd. shall, within thirty (30) days from the effective date of this judgment, apologize publicly in writing to plaintiff Go East Entertainment Company Limited for its infringing act (the contents of the apology shall be examined by this Court). If it fails to perform its obligations within the time limit, this court shall publicize the main contents of this judgment and the expenses arising therefrom shall be borne by defendant Beijing Pure Music Entertainment Co., Ltd.; and
III.  Defendant Beijing Pure Music Entertainment Co., Ltd. shall, within thirty (30) days from the effective date of this judgment, compensate plaintiff Go East Entertainment Company Limited RMB 30,000 for its economic losses and RMB 26,376 for the reasonable litigation cost of this case, the total of the above two items being RMB 56,376;
The court acceptance fee shall be borne by defendant Beijing Pure Music Entertainment Co., Ltd.