Research On Copyright Infringement On Wechat Public Platform

On September 3, 2014, the first WeChat public platform copyright infringement case was trialed by the first People’s Court of Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province which has aroused wide public attention on copyright infringement of WeChat works. It was affirmed that “Popular Zhongshan”,the accused, has forwarded “Zhongshan commercial housing net”,the plaintiff’s work without permission, which violated the plaintiff’s authorship, right of revision, right of communication through information network and right of getting paid. It was concluded that the accused shall bear tort liability to apologize and compensate for the plaintiff’s losses. It is high time that we regulated WeChat public platform’s forwarding behavior and stated Wechat public platform’s liability.Relevant theory is immature, causing dispute in recognizing copyright infringement.Furthermore, exemption in current Copyright Law is not reasonable which leaves the bearing of tort liability a state of uncertainty. This paper analyses WeChat public platform’s due diligence,discusses the nature of Wechat works and its ownership on the basis of previous cases and empirical study, as well as seeks recognition theory and analysis method of copyright infringement according to tort theory.This paper could be sorted into 5 parts:Part One introduces the background and significance of copyright infringement on Wechat public platform, research status both at home and abroad as well as the specific research method, innovation points in this paper.Part Two This part points out the challenge which current copyright law is facing from the development course of WeChat public platform, and discusses the significance of WeChat works’ copyright protection by studying the first WeChat public copyright infringement case.Part Three explores whether WeChat works should be protected by copyright law and who shall enjoy its ownership. Orphan works’ ownership is mentioned in this part.Part Four summons the recognition standard of WeChat public platform’s copyright infringement, then lists exceptions, for instance, licensing and fair use.Part Five comes to a conclusion about ways of refining WeChat public platform’s regulation based on the current countermeasures which WeChat public platform are taking.Hopefully, this paper could make a meaningful exploration about copyright infringement on Wechat public platform, furthermore, arouse attention of domestic experts, and let more people be aware of the protection of WeChat works’ copyright.