Recently, the Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate released the “Model Cases of IP Protection by the People’s Procuratorate of Beijing 2024”. The cases handled by Lusheng Law Firm, namely “The copyright infringement case against Li handled on behalf of a world-renowned entertainment company” and “The case of counterfeiting registered trademarks and selling goods bearing counterfeit registered trademarks involving Liu and 11 others handled on behalf of an internationally renowned film and entertainment company”, were honorably selected.
01
Representation of a world-renowned entertainment company in the copyright infringement case against Li
Brief Case Description
The right holder is a world-renowned entertainment company. Li operated a shop selling electronic products such as game consoles and software. In the course of business, Li discovered methods to crack game consoles and obtain games for free, and then began to study how to circumvent the technical protection measures set by the right holder in order to obtain games free of charge. Li purchased a large number of cracking chips and disassembled and reassembled game consoles at home, soldering the chips onto the consoles to achieve cracking. Li subsequently sold cracked game consoles through an online store, with a very large sales amount.
Lusheng Law Firm, acting for the right holder, assisted the public security organ, the procuratorate and the court by providing legal opinions and promoting the progress of the case. In May 2023, the public security organ transferred Li to the People’s Procuratorate of Fengtai District, Beijing, for review and prosecution on suspicion of the crime of copyright infringement. In April 2024, the Fengtai District People’s Procuratorate instituted a public prosecution against Li on suspicion of the crime of copyright infringement. The Fengtai District People’s Court convicted Li of the crime of copyright infringement and sentenced him to three years’ fixed-term imprisonment, suspended for three years, and imposed a fine of RMB 1 million.
Typical Significance
I. The first criminal judgment obtained by the right holder in China targeting “destroying or circumventing technical measures”
In order to seek illegal gains, the offenders soldered cracking chips inside the right holder’s game consoles, thereby destroying or circumventing the technical measures set by the right holder. Unlike traditional intellectual property infringement crimes, this type of criminal conduct involves a substantial amount of technical content, and the review of technical issues is also a difficulty in case handling. During the handling of the case, the attorneys actively cooperated with the public security organ, the procuratorate and the court in explaining the technical issues involved in the case so as to resolve the technical difficulties. The criminal conduct involved in this case was successfully characterized as the crime of “destroying or circumventing technical measures” under the crime of copyright infringement. This case is the first criminal judgment obtained by the right holder in China targeting “destroying or circumventing technical measures”, laying a solid foundation for its subsequent rights protection.
II. Substantive participation in the case and in-depth exploration of criminal clues
At the stage of review for prosecution, the attorneys took the initiative to apply for access to the case file and examined the case, discovering that the sales amount determined by the public security organ was insufficient and that not all amounts involved in the case had been determined. The attorneys submitted legal opinions to the procuratorial organ, requesting that the entire amount involved in the case be determined. The procuratorial organ adopted the attorneys’ opinions and conducted supplementary investigation on its own, determining the full amount involved in the case.
At the trial stage, the attorneys appeared in court as litigation agents, presenting opinions on the technical issues, copyright and other aspects involved in the case, thereby achieving full-process protection of the right holder’s copyright.
———— Case-handling Team ————
Jiang Nandi
Managing Partner, Co-head of Dispute Resolution Practice
ljiang@lushenglawyers.com
Wang Jiabin
Attorney
jwang2@Lushenglawyers.com
Chang Xing
Paralegal
xchang@lushenglawyers.com
02
Representation of an internationally renowned film and entertainment company in the case against Liu and 11 others for counterfeiting registered trademarks and selling goods bearing counterfeit registered trademarks
Brief Case Description
The right holder is a world-renowned entertainment company. Hu, Liu and others produced, sold and leased goods bearing counterfeit registered trademarks, disrupting market order and seriously infringing upon the lawful rights and interests of the right holder. Lusheng Law Firm, acting for the right holder, investigated the infringing syndicate, clarified the division of upstream and downstream roles of the suspects in each infringing link, and reported the case to the public security organ.
Subsequently, Lusheng Law Firm, acting for the right holder, assisted the public security organ, the procuratorate and the court by providing legal opinions and promoting the progress of the case. The public security organ arrested more than ten suspects in one operation, seized tens of thousands of infringing counterfeit products and counterfeit trademarks involved in the case, and, between June and July 2024, transferred 11 suspects to the People’s Procuratorate of Tongzhou District, Beijing, for review and prosecution. In January 2025, the Tongzhou District People’s Court convicted Hu, Liu and 9 other suspects of the crimes of counterfeiting registered trademarks and selling goods bearing counterfeit registered trademarks, and sentenced them to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 10 months to 4 years and 4 months, and imposed a total fine of RMB 3.55 million.
Typical Significance
I. Focusing on the substantive nature of production conduct to promote accurate legal characterization
As counsel for the victim, we conducted an in-depth analysis of Liu’s infringement model and found that his “commissioned processing” conduct did not merely constitute a sales link. Through key evidence discovered in the case file, including online communications between Liu and the manufacturer, vouchers for the delivery of raw materials, and detailed product specifications, we demonstrated that he exercised substantive control over the production process of the counterfeit apparel, and that his conduct already constituted infringing production and manufacturing. On this basis, we submitted a legal opinion and specified the evidentiary circumstances, thereby promoting the judicial authorities to additionally characterize the conduct as the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks, and achieving a crackdown on infringement at its source.
II. Deep involvement in the case to provide full-process protection for the right holder
At the early investigation stage of the case, we assisted the public security organ in clarifying the specific circumstances of the suspects, and participated in the enforcement operation as well as the counting and classification of tens of thousands of infringing products; at the review for prosecution stage, the attorneys took the initiative to apply for access to the case file and examined the case, discovering that the offense determined by the public security organ was inaccurate. The attorneys submitted legal opinions to the procuratorial organ, requesting that the charge of counterfeiting registered trademarks be additionally included, and the procuratorate and the court ultimately adopted the attorneys’ opinions.
———— Case-handling Team ————
Wang Shan
Managing Partner of Shanghai Office, Co-head of Dispute Resolution Practice
cwang@lushenglawyers.com
Hou Juanjuan
Head of Guangzhou Litigation Team
ahou@lushenglawyers.com
Zhang Qing
Attorney
czhang7@lushenglawyers.com
