Jiangsu court conclude 392M Yuan "pirated links" copyright case

In a significant crackdown on digital piracy, a Jiangsu court has concluded China's largest criminal case by financial scale involving "pirated links" on online film and television platforms. The case resulted in prison sentences and heavy fines for the key figures behind the illegal distribution of over 83,000 audiovisual works, which generated nearly 400 million RMB in advertising revenue.

Zhang Ping, the mastermind behind Beijing Qingmeng Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing Shisutong Technology Co., Ltd., was sentenced to five years and six months in prison and fined 20 million RMB. His close associate, Sun Yan, who served as the CEO of Beijing Shisutong Technology, received a three-year prison sentence and a 4 million RMB fine. 

Investigations revealed that from late 2017 to January 2023, Zhang Ping, Sun Yan, and others organized teams to develop and operate multiple film and television apps, including “Pure Film & TV Hub” and “Today’s Film & TV”. These apps were affiliated with six shell companies under Zhang Ping’s control. During this period, Zhang Ping, Sun Yan, and their associates, in pursuit of illegal profits, distributed popular audiovisual works through their apps without the permission of copyright holders like iQIYI and Youku. They either downloaded and uploaded these works to rented cloud storage servers or purchased third-party technical services to intercept streaming links—a method known as “pirated links”. This technique involved deceiving platforms into providing playback addresses by simulating legitimate user requests, thus bypassing ads and copyright protections. The group then monetized these illegally obtained works by collecting advertising revenue through their apps.

By the time the authorities intervened, Zhang Ping, Sun Yan, and their associates had distributed more than 83,000 audiovisual works, with over 72,000 accessed through “pirated links”, amassing billions of views. The operation earned them over 392 million RMB in advertising revenue.

Following the public prosecution by the Wuxi Xinwu District Procuratorate, the court recently issued a first-instance judgment: Zhang Ping was sentenced to five years and six months in prison and fined 20 million RMB for copyright infringement. Sun Yan was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 4 million RMB for the same crime. The judgment is now final.