What issues need to be paid attention to when investigating and collecting evidence for copyright infringement
1. Obtaining evidence to confirm the ownership of rights
Our country adopts the principle of "automatic protection" for copyright. That is to say, as long as the creation of the work is completed, its copyright has been generated, regardless of whether it is registered or not. To prove the ownership of copyright, some original evidence is generally required. These evidences include: the original of the work, the manuscript of the work, the negative of the photo, legal publications, copyright registration certificate, certificate issued by the relevant intermediary agency or state agency, copyright transfer contracts, notarial deeds of inheritance, etc. As long as the evidence presented by the right holder is found by the court to be true and legal, and the other party cannot provide legal and valid evidence to refute it, the ownership of the copyright can generally be confirmed.
The evidence mentioned above is generally provided by the copyright owner If held, it can be retrieved from the copyright holder. Copyright owners should generally take care to keep the original documents and certificates of rights ownership. If the copyright owner loses the original evidence, he must try his best to make up for it, such as applying to the relevant authorities for recognition or reissuance of relevant certificates.
One thing worth noting is that our country’s requirements for computers Software is subject to copyright protection, although relevant laws and regulations do not stipulate that registration is the acquisition of computerSoftware copyright conditions, but in actual operation, the registration certification documents issued by the software registration authority are often direct evidence that the right holder enjoys the software copyright. It is often not easy for the other party to overturn the validity of the copyright registration certificate. Therefore, if you have a copyrighted work, it is best to register it with the relevant authorities. The cost is not high and it is very beneficial to prove your rights.
2. Obtaining evidence to prove the existence of infringement facts
In real life, copyright infringement mainly involves infringement of the property rights of the copyright owner, such as unauthorized use of the copyright owner's works or works in the form of distribution, reproduction, rental, exhibition, broadcast, performance, etc. without the consent of the copyright owner. Propagate the work, or use the work without paying copyright fees, etc.
Evidence can be collected in two ways: first The first is notarization and evidence collection, which means purchasing infringing products from the infringer on-site without revealing one's true identity, and the whole process will be notarized by the notary office. Article 67 of my country's Civil Procedure Law stipulates: "Legal acts, legal facts and documents that have been notarized and certified through legal procedures shall be used by the People's Court as the basis for determining the facts. However, there is exception to the contrary evidence that is sufficient to overturn the notarized certification." Therefore, notarization can be regarded as a kind of Good evidence collection method. The second is to report to the relevant competent authorities and seize and handle the infringement on-site. During the litigation process, the court will then request the relevant competent authorities to retrieve work records.
At the same time, it should be noted that notarization or When making a report, the notary office or the competent authority generally requires the applicant to provide the right holder's ownership certification materials or documents.
3. Obtaining evidence to prove infringement losses
Article 49 of the "Copyright Law" stipulates that if a copyright or copyright-related rights are infringed, the infringer shall compensate the right holder according to the actual loss; if the actual loss is difficult to calculate, compensation may be based on the infringer's illegal income. Amount of compensation This includes the reasonable expenses paid by the right holder to stop the infringement. If the actual losses of the right holder or the illegal gains of the infringer cannot be determined, the people's court will award a compensation of less than 500,000 yuan based on the circumstances of the infringement.
It is necessary to retrieve the comparison of sales quantity and sales of works before and after infringement amount, reprint status and other evidence, especially the relevant invoices, contracts and other evidence need to be retrieved.
4. Issues that need attention in the investigation and evidence collection of copyright online infringement
With the popularity of the Internet, the phenomenon of copyright infringement on the Internet is becoming more and more serious. When dealing with online copyright infringement, you need to pay attention to the following points:
1. Apply to the local notary office for evidence preservation before prosecution, so that the preservation is beneficial to you The evidence. The notarial certificate should describe the evidence collection process in detail, including the time, location, Internet operator, browsing program, download and print, etc., and make every effort to ensure the authenticity and legality of the notarized document and strengthen its evidence effectiveness.
2. After obtaining the notarized document of the web page, If you just want to stop the infringement and don’t want to pursue compensation liability,You can issue a lawyer's letter to the other party to warn the other party of the infringement. Especially for items sold in online malls, website providers often have no time to carefully review the merchant's relevant evidence or use this as an excuse to shirk their responsibilities. The rights holder issues a lawyer's letter to warn the seller of their behavior, and it has been informed that the relevant merchant is infringing. If a person does not actively cooperate in canceling infringing goods, he shall be jointly and severally liable for intentionally tolerating infringement, and website providers will often actively cooperate as a result. However, the rights holder is generally required to provide relevant supporting evidence, such as the infringing website address, relevant evidence of copyright ownership, etc.
3. After obtaining the notarized document of the website, If you want to file a lawsuit to pursue the infringing party's liability for compensation, you must first collect various evidences according to the aforementioned evidence collection methods.
The above is the relevant content summarized by the editor. If If you have relevant legal consultation or other matters you don’t understand, you can call the online lawyers on the Legal Savior Network for answers. The lawyers’ professional knowledge can help you.
