Top 10 copyright events in China in 2020

By Zhang Rui: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, February 13, 2021

7. New verdict on sports copyright case.

A soccer player trains in front of a Sina billboard. [File photo/VCG]

In September 2020, the Beijing Higher People's Court retried and revised a verdict relating to a case detailing copyrights at sports events. The revised judgment came following a copyright infringement and unfair competition dispute between Sina Corporation (www.sina.com.cn) and Beijing Tianying Jiuzhou Network Technology Co., Ltd. (www.ifeng.com) and LeTV, with the courts determining that the Chinese Super League program was not just an objective piece of work capturing soccer games, but a creative work constituted something similar to that of films, with editing, special shots, playback, and commentary that need to be protected as an original production. The court therefore upheld its first instance judgment and overturned the second. The issue of copyrights in sports event broadcasting programs is closely related to the development of the sports industry, and the industry has held different views on this matter over the years. Since the case was first brought to court in 2015, the various verdicts have attracted widespread attention. As the dust settled following the retrial, the judgment reflects the court's attitude towards copyrights at sports events, which will have a profound impact on the booming sports industry.