What Should You Do If Your Right of Communication Through Information Networks Is Infringed?

If your right of communication through information networks is infringed, you may take the following measures to protect your rights and interests:

1. Collect evidence: Promptly preserve evidence related to the infringing act, including screenshots of the infringing content, webpage links, and other relevant materials.

2. Seek legal assistance: Consult a professional lawyer to understand the available legal avenues and procedures. A lawyer can help assess the feasibility of the case and provide corresponding legal advice.

3. Submit complaints and reports: Submit complaints and reports to the relevant authorities or platforms, explaining the infringement and providing supporting evidence. Depending on the circumstances, you may file complaints with the courts, public security authorities, communications administration authorities, or other relevant departments.

4. File a lawsuit: If you believe the infringement is serious or if no other option is available, you may choose to file a lawsuit to protect your lawful rights and interests. During the litigation process, your lawyer will assist in preparing and submitting the necessary pleadings and materials, and will represent you in court.

5. Resolve disputes through rights protection mechanisms: If the infringing party is also willing to resolve the dispute through negotiation or mediation, you may negotiate with them to reach a settlement agreement. In this process, a lawyer may act as a negotiator or mediator to help you achieve a reasonable outcome.

Important Reminder: During the rights protection process, please keep sufficient evidence and communication records, and follow legal procedures, so as to ensure that your rights protection efforts are more effective. At the same time, it is also recommended that you strengthen your awareness of self-protection in your daily use of the internet and actively protect your right of communication through information networks.

If a rights holder discovers that services provided by a network service provider involve infringement of the rights holder’s right of communication through information networks, or that the provider has deleted or altered the electronic rights management information, the rights holder may issue a written notice to the network service provider requesting the deletion of the relevant works, performances, or audio-video products, or the disconnection of the relevant links. At the same time, the rights holder shall be responsible for the authenticity of the notice.

The notice here should contain the following information:

1. Please provide the rights holder’s name, contact information, and address.

2. Please provide the title and network address of the infringing work, performance, or audio-video product, so that it may be deleted or the link disconnected.

3. Preliminary evidence constituting infringement. --> Materials used to preliminarily prove the infringement.

According to the Provisions on the Protection of the Right of Communication Through Information Networks, once the above notice is sent, two different consequences may arise.

First, after receiving the notice from the rights holder, the network service provider shall immediately delete the allegedly infringing works, performances, or audio-video products, or disconnect the relevant links, and shall forward the notice to the service recipient who provided the allegedly infringing content. If the notice cannot be forwarded, the provider shall publish the contents of the notice online.

In this case, if the network service provider deletes the allegedly infringing content or disconnects the relevant links in accordance with the notice, it shall not bear any compensation liability. However, if it knows or should have known that such content or links may involve infringement, it shall bear joint liability for infringement together with the service recipient.

Second, if the service recipient who receives the notice believes that the content it provided does not infringe another person’s copyright, it may submit a written explanation to the network service provider requesting restoration of the deleted content and the disconnected links. After receiving the written explanation, the network service provider shall immediately restore the relevant content and, at the same time, forward the explanation to the rights holder. In such a case, the rights holder may no longer notify the network service provider to delete the content or disconnect the links again.

When the second situation occurs, the rights holder may, in accordance with copyright law, file an infringement lawsuit against the service recipient based on the service recipient information shown in the written proof provided by the network service provider, in order to protect their rights and interests.