Recently, the Supreme People's Court ("SPC") issued the Opinions on Reinforcing the Protection of Copyright and Copyright-related Rights (the "Opinions").

The Opinions point out that, a natural person, legal person or unincorporated organization who affixes its signature to a work, performance or sound recordings in an usual way shall be presumed to be the copyright owner of the work, performance or sound recordings or the holder of copyright-related rights, except where there is sufficient evidence to the contrary to disprove it. Meanwhile, the Opinions call for the need to attach great importance to the new development needs of the Internet, artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies, accurately define the types of works in accordance with the copyright law, grasp the identification standards for works, and legally and properly hear the cases involving the live streaming of sports events and online games and data infringement, so as to promote the standardized development of emerging business forms. In addition, the Opinions also specify the issues such as advancing the pilot program of separating complicated cases from simple ones, destroying the infringing copies and the related materials and tools, fully compensating the right holders for the losses caused, accurately identifying the infringement intent, and guiding the parties concerned in initiating lawsuits in good faith.

(Source: Supreme People’s Court)