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1. Case Enlightenment

As the first judicial case in China involving the provision of pirated film and television links through "AI intelligent search", this case is of multiple significance for film and television companies and the industry as a whole. For film and television companies, the case explicitly requires AI platforms to strengthen their content review mechanisms via judicial proposals, providing copyright holders with a more direct path for rights protection and reducing the risk of pirated links eroding the commercial value of film and television works. For example, the company involved in the case prompted the infringing party to carry out rectification through judicial procedures, effectively safeguarding the right of communication through information networks. For the film and television industry, this case has incorporated the infringement risks of generative AI into the judicial regulation framework for the first time. Through the demonstration effect of "resolving disputes thoroughly upon the conclusion of a case", it has facilitated the formation of the industry consensus that "technology development and copyright protection proceed in parallel", providing a judicial model for the standardization of the copyright ecology in the streaming media era. Meanwhile, the court's balanced approach that takes into account both the stage of technological development and intellectual property protection not only avoids excessive restraint of AI technological innovation, but also draws boundaries for the lawful application of new quality productive forces in the film and television field, which helps the industry achieve sustainable development amid the technological wave.

2. Case Content

Case Concerning the Dispute over Infringement upon the Right of Communication Through Information Network between Beijing XX Information Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing XX Technology Co., Ltd. -- Issuance of the First Nationwide AI-related Intellectual Property Judicial Recommendation in China

Beijing XX Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "the Information Technology Company") is the right holder of the right of communication through information network in respect of a certain film and television drama. Beijing XX Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "the Technology Company") is the entity responsible for the development and operation of an AI search engine. The Information Technology Company found during investigation that after prompts such as "I want to watch the said film and television drama" are entered into the AI search engine, the AI search engine carefully selects six links from massive search results and gives priority to displaying them, most of which directly point to websites hosting pirated resources. The Information Technology Company instituted a lawsuit against the Technology Company over a dispute on infringement of the right of communication through information network with the People's Court of Kaifu District, Changsha City.

After holding a court hearing, the Malan Mountain Tribunal of the Kaifu District People's Court of Changsha City, for the purpose of substantively resolving the dispute, solicited opinions from experts and scholars through the industry-university-research mechanism, conducted patient and meticulous communication and coordination with all parties concerned, and finally facilitated all parties to reach a consensus on jointly promoting the high-quality development of generative artificial intelligence on the track of the rule of law. The case was concluded by withdrawal of the lawsuit. Meanwhile, given that this case is a new-type case involving the artificial intelligence field, the High People's Court of Hunan Province and the Kaifu District People's Court of Changsha City, having comprehensively considered such key factors as the development stage of generative artificial intelligence technology, general consensus of the industry, and technical feasibility, issued a judicial suggestion letter to a technology company for the construction of an intellectual property protection and risk prevention system for generative artificial intelligence. The letter emphasized the need to strengthen the review and management of potential infringement risks of intellectual property rights including copyright in content generated by "AI intelligent search", and required the company to establish and improve an effective complaint and reporting mechanism for intellectual property-related issues, so as to promote the sound development and standardized application of generative artificial intelligence. Upon receipt of the judicial suggestion letter, the aforementioned technology company has submitted a written reply and carried out rectification accordingly.

This case is the first of its kind nationwide involving the provision of links to pirated film and television works through "AI intelligent search". At present, generative artificial intelligence is undergoing rapid iterative development, which has brought tremendous changes to social life. Oriented to jointly promoting the high-quality development of generative artificial intelligence on the track of the rule of law, the people's courts proactively performed their statutory functions and duties after the closure of the case, issued the first nationwide judicial suggestion on AI-related intellectual property rights to leading Internet enterprises and received a response thereto, so as to guide innovation entities to standardize their market conduct, and realize both "case closure" and "complete settlement of relevant issues". This practice is of great demonstrative significance for advancing industry governance in the artificial intelligence field and boosting the development of new quality productive forces.