Seeking a balance

In 2021, Li Lisha, a judge at the Beijing Haidian District People's Court, resolved a copyright case in which iQiyi, a leading online video platform, claimed that a user of Huya, a provider of streaming services, had privately broadcast one of its works, Nirvana in Fire, a domestic costume drama, via an illegal livestream.

The person responsible was easily identified as a copyright violator because evidence showed that he had failed to obtain permission from iQiyi to broadcast the drama.

"However, whether Huya should be held liable for the infringement was an issue that needed further consideration," Li Lisha said.

After an investigation, the court clarified Huya's liability status and ordered the company to pay iQiyi compensation of about 230,000 yuan ($33,400) as it should have been aware of the infringement and taken action to stop it.

"We found that the violator received abundant online views after broadcasting the drama for almost a month on a special channel established by Huya for people to watch TV series and movies," the judge said.

"Although the livestreaming room was named after actors in the drama instead of directly using the name of the TV series, Huya should have noticed the infringement due to the large number of views and the monthly playtime. In other words, Huya assisted the infringement, so it should be punished."

However, she said whether an online service provider is held accountable mainly depends on whether it performs its management duties correctly and has the ability to identify irregularities on its platform.

"The problem concerning emerging sectors like livestreaming has been frequently seen in cases related to IP(intellectual property)," she said, adding that the big challenge is to solve issues via the existing laws, which have few provisions targeting emerging industries. She conceded that such new-style disputes raise new requirements for the judiciary.

"They demand that we better balance the interests of all parties when delivering a verdict," she said.

"Simply put, we cannot hamper the potential driving force of new businesses while regulating them, nor can we ignore the interests of the holders of the rights."