Founder of pirated video website fined and jailed
By XING YI in Shanghai | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2021-11-22 16:29
The Shanghai No 3 Intermediate People's Court on Monday sentenced Liang Yongping, the founder of a website that hosted pirated films with Chinese subtitles, to three years and six months in prison and fined him 1.5 million yuan ($235,000) for copyright infringement.
The court has also sought to recover illegal gains and confiscate the funds and tools used for his criminal acts.
According to the court, Liang founded two companies and instructed another person surnamed Wang to develop the website of Renren Yingshi Subtitle Group and apps for mobile platforms in 2018.
He also instructed another person surnamed Xie to have translators produce Chinese subtitles for films and television series acquired from overseas.
These shows were then uploaded to the companies' websites and apps for public viewing and downloading without legal authorization or permission for distribution.
Liang's website and related apps had hosted 32,824 videos and garnered 6.83 million members before it was shut down.
According to the court, Liang earned around 12 million yuan in membership fees, advertisements, and sales of hard drives with pirated copies of films.
Liang was arrested by the police on Jan 6 and confessed to his criminal deeds.
The court said Liang's act has constituted the crime of infringing copyright to a serious circumstance, but he was given a lighter punishment due to his confession and cooperation.
