Abstract: Recently, Beijing Internet Court held a court session to judge the alleged copyright infringement of Papitude, which was sued by music licensing platform VFine Music for using Japanese label Lullatone’s music without permission. It was determined that the defendant papitube company constituted an infringement and compensated the plaintiff copyright party VFine Music and the musician Lullatone for 7,000 CNY. Although the plaintiff VFine Music won the case, VFine said that it would continue to appeal.
 
Case introduction

The plaintiff, VFine Music, is a Chinese music copyright commercial distribution platform with copyright management services such as music authorization, monitoring and confirmation.

The defendant, Papitube, is a short-video MCN (multichannel network) organization that helps contracted authors to promote, verticalize and commercialize effectively.

In August 2018, Papitube's video blogger @Bigger Institute used the original song "Walking On the Sidewalk" by the Japanese music label Lullatone without authorization for the short video "2018 Strongest Domestic Mobile Phone Review!". The total video playback of the related videos exceeded 23.09 million, and the total number of forwarding, likes and comments was more than 250,000.

In December 2018, Lullatone learned that his original song was stolen by the @Bigger Institute, then found VFine to establish a partnership, and commissioned VFine to represent all of its rights in China.

In January 2019, after failing to communicate with Papitube, VFine decided to initiate legal proceedings to defend rights; In March, in accordance with the lawsuit requirements, VFine officially signed a legally binding activist contract with Lullatone to file a lawsuit; In May, Beijing Internet Court placed the case on file officially; on July 23, the case was opened in the first trial of the Beijing Internet Court; on August 30, the case was opened broadcast live for the fifth time, and VFine won the case.

The key controversy in this case is the value of infringement and the cost of safeguarding rights. It is reported that VFine seeks compensation for the plaintiff’s economic loss of 200,000 CNY and reasonable expenses of 57,000 CNY. The defendant believes that the amount of compensation for economic losses claimed by VFine is obviously too high, and the reasonable expenses claimed have exceeded the reasonable range.

The first trial judgment of the Beijing Internet Court found that the defendant, Papitube, has constituted infringement and ordered the defendant to compensate the plaintiff's copyright party VFine Music and the musician Lullatone for economic loss of 4,000 CNY and reasonable expenses of 3,000 CNY, totaling 7,000 CNY. In response to this result, VFine believes that the defendant's financial compensation amount determined in the judgment is too low, which can not cover the VFine’s forensic costs, and cannot balance the rights that the infringing music should receive, and will continue to appeal.
 
Significance of the case: promoting intellectual property protection in the music industry

Currently, short-video is in a booming stage. Various short-video programs and short-video apps have enriched people's spiritual life. At the same time, they have also spawned a large number of excellent video bloggers and network big V. However, it should be noted that unauthorized use of other people's musical works may constitute an infringement and shall bear corresponding legal liabilities. In the current era of knowledge payment, everyone should establish a sense of copyright and respect the intellectual achievements of others.

As the first MCN commercial music infringement case, it also involves “short-video”, one of the most popular industries in recent years. The attention and discussion caused by the case will provide a reference for related industry copyright issues. Chen Xin, the vice president of VFine, belives that the significance of defending rights through this lawsuit is greater than that of business, which can promote the industry.

Now that people are respectful of intellectual property rights, consumers are paying more and more attention to intellectual property rights, as are some institutions and companies. Papitube has purchased a music library from the commercial music licensing website AGM, and a copyright white paper will be launched in the near future. They said that this event is a good reminder and will promote professionalism in the industry.

Conclusion: In any case, the success of the “First MCN Commercial Music Infringement Case” means that the intellectual property protection of the music industry in China is further improved. The case also has unique representations of cross-border rights protection and short-video commercial music infringement.