In recent years, copyright infringements are booming online, severely threatening the interests of right owners. One of the most contentious issues is the liability of the Internet service providers for online IPR violations.

The IP expert Wang Qian, who works as a professor in East China University of Political Science and Law, believed that online copyright protection could be enforced in line with the Regulation on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information promulgated by the State Council (the Cabinet) in 2006.

He said that copyrighted materials are developed into computer software such as e-books and distributed via Apple's App Store, which constitutes a direct infringement.

App Store provides such a platform as BBS and blogs for programmers to upload their works. By this way, Apple will keep certain proportion of profits generating from file-sharing, which makes Apple have to take on the legal liability before such programs are eliminated from the platform as Apple directly obtains benefit from the distribution of the programs.

However, Li Mingde, director of the IP center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, held that it is not easy to identify the legal responsibilities of service providers like Apple. Legally, the liability of the ISPs derives from that of the publishers who do not stop printing or coping materials when they have already known that the publications have infringed copyrights.

In modern society, the rapid growth of the Internet makes various ways of information distribution possible, which creates more chances for piracy. Users begin to get used to enjoying a "free lunch" online due to the weak awareness of IP protection.

Wang also said that fewer people actually respect the intellectual property rights of creators and inventors. It will cost little to infringe but more to protect IP rights. Generally speaking, the compensation fee could not cover the litigation fee.

That's why infringers would still benefit from their illegal activities although they are ruled to pay the compensation, added Li. He proposed that policy makers should set a bottom line of the amount of the compensation fee to curb right-stealing activities. Furthermore, the compensation fee would be doubled for two successive infringements by the same user.

Talking about if Apple should lock the users account after deleting the pirated programs uploaded by users, Wang said that there are no such provisions in current laws. It is not fair enough to block users’ access to the service for uploading pirated programs for the first time. However, if an account is used to continuously upload illegal contents, Apple should consider taking measures to stop the repeat infringing activities.

(Source: IPR in China)