Apple was accused of infringing on many domestic works and was ordered to pay 12 million yuan in compensation

Recently, a reporter learned from Chinese Online that the company's wholly-owned subsidiary Chinese Online (Tianjin) Cultural Development Co., Ltd. received a first-instance judgment from the Tianjin Binhai District Court in a series of cases against Apple Inc. for infringement of the information network dissemination rights of works. The court ruled that Apple Inc. had infringed the information network dissemination rights of dozens of works including "In the Name of the People", "State Prosecution", "Emperor Kangxi", "Family", "Spring", and "Autumn", and the total amount of compensation was more than 12 million yuan.

The court of first instance held that Apple, as the actual operator of the App Store, has strong control and management capabilities over the App Store network service platform based on its own planned business model, operating policies and agreement terms. Based on Apple's control and management capabilities over the application store, the defendant Apple did not take reasonable measures when it knew that the App in question was provided by the developer without permission. Therefore, it can be determined that the defendant did not fulfill the reasonable duty of care and had subjective fault. Its actions in the case constituted infringement and it should bear the corresponding legal liability.

It is worth noting that since 2012, ChinaNet has taken Apple to court four times over disputes over the right to disseminate digital works on the Internet. These four cases have gone through the first instance, second instance and retrial procedures of the People's Court, and Apple was found to have infringed.