Lawyer Zhou Xueteng, Senior Partner of Gaopeng Law Firm, has accepted the commission of Ningbo Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ningbo Intelligent Company) to represent the company in the first and second trials of the computer software copyright infringement dispute between the company and Beijing Medical Research Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Beijing Research Institute). The representative's views have been fully adopted by the Supreme People's Court and the case has been fully won.

Case Introduction

The copyright owner of the holographic physiological evaluation software named "Some Health" in a certain research institute and department in Beijing obtained the rights through original acquisition. Since September 2017, a research institute in Beijing and Ningbo Intelligent Company have successively signed "Strategic Cooperation Agreement", "Supplementary Agreement", and "Supplementary Agreement II" to engage in business cooperation on related health testing products. The contract stipulates that the copyright of the "Hand Health" holographic physiological evaluation software belongs to a research institute in Beijing, and Ningbo Intelligent Company has the right to use the involved software based on the contractual relationship. The rights holder has an obligation to provide software service contracts, Ningbo Intelligent Company has obtained authorization to use the software involved in the case. In the subsequent cooperation process, in March 2019, there were disagreements between the two companies regarding payment of project allocation funds, and a research institute in Beijing immediately shut down software services. Afterwards, the defendant's research institute discovered that after shutting down its software and services, Ningbo Intelligent Company continued to provide services and collect payments to the outside world. Therefore, they initiated a lawsuit on the grounds that Ningbo Intelligent Company had infringed on its software copyright.

Since 2019, both parties have filed multiple lawsuits in courts at all levels in Beijing regarding copyright disputes and contract breach disputes over infringing computer software. After the first instance, second instance, and retrial of cases, and finally through the unremitting efforts of the handling lawyers, all levels of courts have determined that a research institute in Beijing defaulted first in commercial cooperation, and its breach of contract led to the termination of cooperation. After the termination of cooperation, Ningbo Intelligent Company should continue to protect its rights and interests in using the software involved in the case, The lawyer's full views were supported by courts at all levels and ultimately won the lawsuit comprehensively.

Summary of Supreme Court Judgments

When determining whether the relevant behavior of the accused infringer constitutes infringement, it cannot be determined separately from the content of the contract signed by both parties. Instead, further comprehensive consideration should be given to whether the behavior occurred during the performance of both parties and whether it is related to the performance of the contract, and a comprehensive judgment should be made on the facts and behaviors of infringement.