Recognition Of Copyright Infringement And Liabilities On The WeChat Public Platform

With the rapid development of3G and4G telecommunication technology, the market of mobile Internet and smart phones has been widely opened in our country. The number of mobile Internet users has surpassed the general number of PC Internet users, which has made mobile Internet the biggest access to the Internet. Meanwhile, it has been a new tide to create we-media on the mobile Internet. Instead of using micro-blog, the WeChat Public Platform has won the affections of most people these two years; however, it has brought about new problems concerning copyright infringement at the same time.To discuss the question whether spread of arts on the WeChat Public Platform should be recognized as copyright infringement and the question how to affirm its infringement liabilities, this thesis, following the path of raising, analyzing and solving problems, combining the basic and latest laws in the tort area, and adding the comparison between WeChat and micro-blog, is organized in four parts.Part One:raising questions. First of all, a brief introduction on the WeChat Public Platform and a comparison between the WeChat Public Platform and micro-blog. Then, a presentation of ways of spreading arts on the WeChat Public Platform by different entities including the public account moderator, the public account fans as well as the Tencent Company, developer of the WeChat application. Based on the above introductions, two questions are raised:Whether these ways of spreading arts can be recognized as copyright infringement? If so, how to identify their liabilities?Part Two and Part Three:analyzing the problem.Part Two:analysis of recognition of the copyright infringement on the WeChat Public Platform. Through a brief introduction of the present condition of legislations concerning the Internet copyright protection home and abroad, the present basic theories of the Internet copyright infringement and the WeChat Public Platform Service Agreement, carried out a qualitative discussion of different ways of spreading arts mentioned in the first Part, whether they would commit the Copyright Law.Part Three:analysis of the liabilities of copyright infringement on the WeChat Public Platform. Due to the complexities of the infringement liabilities of the Internet Service Providers, here a specialized analysis of the infringement liabilities of the Tencent Company. After that, an analysis of the infringement liabilities of the public account moderators and the fans. Then discussion of application of the legal disclaimers on the WeChat Public Platform, including fair use, legal licensing and other disclaimers.Part Four:solving the problem. Discussion of ways to protect copyright on the WeChat Public Platform, respectively from different sides of the original writer, the public account moderator and fans, the Tencent Company and the government. For the Tencent Company, before giving suggestions, introduce the measures that the Company has carried out at the moment in protection of the copyright.