[Case Review]

Dong, a diehard fan of Ultraman, ordered a full-body Ultraman Tiga cosplay leather suit from a studio at 12,000 yuan in June 2021. After receiving the suit, he checked the authenticity with the Ultraman copyright owner (Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd.). The company then reported the infringement to the police. Recently, the People's Court of Shanghai Putuo District (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Putuo Court") heard the case.

According to the investigation, since 2018, Zhu and Chen had recruited the employees, Zhang and Zhao (dealt with in separate cases), to produce and reproduce the copyrighted Ultraman suits and masks, etc. and sold them through the online store "** Custom Props Studio" and other channels. Among them, Zhu was responsible for store operation while Chen was responsible for production follow-up and publicity. On October 24, 2021, the public security organ detained a number of Ultraman leather suits and masks in Zhu¡¯s residence. After judicial audit, the amount of their illegal gains reached more than 1 million yuan. 

Zhu confessed that as the boss, he was mainly responsible for the development of various Ultraman suits. To attract customers, he also posted COSPLAY videos on major video websites. After the Ultraman images required by customers were confirmed, corresponding 3D models would be customized according to the customer's body shape for making Ultraman leather suits. In order to meet the needs of different customers, the studio also provided a price list for dozens of Ultraman figures with different postures and materials, etc.

[Case Study]

After the trial, Shanghai Putuo Court held that the products seized in this case were substantially similar to the Ultraman art works of which Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd. enjoys the copyrights. The defendants¡¯ act of reproducing and distributing the fine art works without permission of the copyright owner constituted the crime of copyright infringement. In the joint crime, Zhu was the principal and shall be punished according to all the crimes he had participated in. Chen was an accomplice and shall be given a mitigated punishment according to law. In view of the amount of illegal gains and harm to the society, etc., Zhu was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 310,000 yuan, while Chen was sentenced to eight months and 20 days in prison and fined 200,000 yuan.

[Relevant Laws]

Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 217 Whoever, for the purpose of making profits, commits any of the following acts of infringement on copyright or copyright-related rights shall, if the amount of illegal gains is relatively large, or if there are other serious circumstances, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the amount of illegal gains is huge or if there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined:

(1) reproducing, distributing or disseminating to the public through information networks a written work, music, fine art, audio-visual work, computer software or any other work prescribed by laws or administrative regulations without the permission of the copyright owner;

(2) publishing a book of which the exclusive right of publication is enjoyed by another person;

(3) reproducing, distributing or disseminating an audio or video recording to the public through information networks without the permission of the producer;

(4) reproducing and distributing an audio or video recording of a performance or disseminating a performance to the public through information networks without the permission of the performer;

(5) producing or selling a work of fine art with a forged signature of another painter; or

(6) intentionally avoiding or destroying the technical measures taken by the right owner for the protection of copyright or copyright-related rights in a work, audio recording or video recording, etc. without the permission of the copyright owner or copyright-related right owner.

  (Author: Shi Di, Shanghai Putuo Court)