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Astro Boy Wins Copyright Suit in China

Published on 09/26 2014  Source: China IP News

Recently, the National Copyright Administration of China(NCAC) published the second group of ten online piracy cases investigated in the Net Sword Action 2014. Three of the ten are online game piracy cases, which are the main targets of the action. The action is a warning sign for internet industry to comply with the copyright order.
In November 2012, Shandong Copyright Bureau uncovered an illegal private server case of online game Legend of Mir (MIR). The suspects illegally copied and sold MIR serverware without the consent of the copyright owner Shanghai Shanda Network Development Co., LTD (SNDA). The value of the case were over 40 million Yuan.
On July 26th, 2013, the Net Police Corps under Shizhong Branch of Jinan Public Security Bureau filed the case, and then arrested 7 suspects and shut down 110 severs in different provinces. The procuratorate instituted a public prosecution against the suspects in March 2014, and the case is in trial at present.
Like piracy, private server is also one of main targets of the Net Sword Action. On April 8th, the Law Enforcement Corps of Beijing Cultural Market received a report from Shanghai Net Ease Network Technology Development co., LTD (NTES). The report claimed that some persons illegally set up online game World of Warcraft (WOW) server and relevant BBS containing private server game, which cause huge loss to NTES. The Corps then start investigation.
The Corps ascertained that the suspect Qiu illegally set up private server of WOW and made benefits. Qiu was arrested on May 13th, 2014 with his involved computer. The evidence showed that Qiu got over 1.2 million Yuan by illegal private server since 2013. Now the case is under prosecution.