Attorney-at-law:   Liu Ping
 
Case Summary:
 At the beginning of 2006, Disney Enterprises, Inc. of US claimed that the defendants Beijing Film Hongyun Audio-Video Service Center and Guangdong Huanyu Audio-Video Co., Ltd. shall bear legal liabilities for the copyright infringement of the film “KING ARTHUR”.
 
This case is the first anti-piracy litigation case of copyright protection of US films in China. For many years US films have been favored by the pirates in domestic market. Pirated films spread so quickly that they can even appear at the time as overseas films. The spread of unchecked pirated films has not only done harm to the lawful rights and interests of the owners of works and disrupted the normal development of film and cultural market, but also become a pretext for criticizing the Chinese government for its failure to protect intellectual property rights, which is rather detrimental to the image of China.
 
This case is the first judicial case in China in which the copyright owner protected its rights through civil procedure according to the Chinese law, and provides a precedent for copyright protection litigation involving similar foreign films and an effective standard. The practical significance of this case is obvious.
 
Abstract of Court Judgment: 
Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court held: In this case, Guangdong Huanyu Company reproduced and distributed the allegedly infringing DVD without permission from Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Jerry Bruckheimer Company, the copyright owners of the film “KING ARTHUR”, which had infringed upon the right of the plaintiff to reproduce and distribute the film, and shall bear the civil liabilities of stopping the infringing act and compensating for the damages according to the law.
The court judgment is as follows:
I.     Defendant Guangdong Huanyu Audio-Video Co., Ltd. shall stop the reproduction and distribution of the DVD of the film “KING ARTHUR” from the date when this judgment takes effect;
II.    Defendant Beijing Film Hongyun Audio-Video Service Center shall stop the sale of the DVD of the film “KING ARTHUR” from the date when this judgment takes effect; 
III.  Defendant Guangdong Huanyu Audio-Video Co., Ltd. shall, within fifteen (15) days from the effective date of this judgment, compensate the plaintiff RMB 150,000 for the economic losses and RMB 8,080 for the reasonable litigation expenses, the total of the above two items being RMB158,080, in which RMB 20,000 shall be borne by defendant Beijing Film Hongyun Audio-Video Service Center jointly.