Case Overview

Chispo represented Chalk Company successfully cracked down on a criminal gang that infringed the entire copyright chain. In order to sell Chalk Company's pirated books, the six defendants carried out a refined division of labor from the production and sales of pirated books to the operation, logistics and after-sales of infringing stores, forming an organized and large-scale criminal gang. The amount involved was as high as 3 million yuan. After the procuratorate filed a public prosecution, we simultaneously filed a criminal civil lawsuit. In the end, the court found that the six defendants constituted the crime of copyright infringement and sentenced them to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from two years to three years and six months, and imposed fines. At the same time, the defendants were ordered to compensate Chalk Company for economic losses.

Legal Commentary

The difficulty of this case lies in whether a criminal copyright case can bring a civil lawsuit in conjunction with an intellectual property criminal case, and how to divide the compensation liability of the six defendants. First, the lawyers in charge searched the opinions of the procuratorate and judicial practices in various places, and successfully promoted the civil lawsuit in conjunction with the criminal case in this case in the context of comprehensively strengthening intellectual property rights. Second, regarding the division of responsibilities among the six defendants, the lawyers in charge carefully read the case files and strictly distinguished the compensation liability of the defendants responsible for production and sales and the defendants responsible for operating the infringing stores. In the end, the court fully considered the opinions of the lawyers in charge and made a civil judgment in conjunction with the criminal case, achieving the dual purposes of criminal crackdown and civil compensation, and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the rights holders.