On December 26, 2019, the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC), the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Public Security held a press conference on the “Jianwang 2019” Campaign in Beijing to disclose the achievements of the campaign. From May to November, 2019, departments of copyright law enforcement at all levels in concert with departments of cyberspace, communications and public security carried out special actions against prevailing difficulties in the field of online copyright governance, deleted 1.1 million links to infringing and pirated contents, confiscated 10.75 million infringing and pirated products and dealt with 450 cases of online infringement and piracy, which were comprised of 160 criminal cases with a total value of RMB524 million. These departments made ongoing efforts to regulate and reorder online copyrights, creating a favorable online copyright environment for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The “Jianwang 2019” Campaign gave priority to key fields, including cinema movies, integrated development of media, streaming media and pictures in the campaign for copyrights, through which the governance of platform-based copyrights was strengthened, a group of major and influential cases of infringement and piracy were investigated, and the environment of online copyrights was improved. Beijing, Hebei, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Guangdong, Chongqing, Sichuan and Ningxia investigated more than 30 key cases of camcording and pirated cinema movies. More than 200 suspects were arrested, and a total of 418 pirated video websites (apps) were shut down, involving a total value of RMB 230 million. Local governments proactively carried out special actions for the copyright of video-on-demand services. For instance, Shanghai investigated 22 infringement cases and Hunan investigated 16 such cases in this regard. The campaign earnestly implemented the important decision of the CPC Central Committee to promote the integrated development of media and prioritized the copyright protection of mainstream news websites. It conducted investigations into the case of infringement upon news works of Xinhua Silk Road in Beijing, and the cases of illegal reprinting and distribution on we-media platforms in Wuxi, Jiangsu and Nanning, Guangxi, seriously cracking down on infringements upon the copyrights of traditional media’s news works. With regard to key areas of copyright regulation, such as picture markets and streaming media, Beijing identified and dealt with more than 30 million picture copyright infringements; Jiangsu investigated the infringement cases of the 7KK picture website and an app named “South Korean TV”; Hebei investigated the infringement case of the PNGTREE picture website; Fujian investigated the pirated picture case of a graffiti design website and the infringement case of Dilidili; Shanghai investigated the infringement case of YYeTs.com. These departments continuously regulated the copyright order of picture and streaming media markets.

Departments of copyright law enforcement at all levels pushed for integrity and innovation and boosted key regulation capacity of online copyrights to enable robust protection of copyrights. The NCAC reinforced and expanded the coverage of the copyright early warning of cinema movies. Specifically, it released seven lists of key works for copyright protection covering a total of 67 works, and prioritized the copyright alerts of key movies like The Wandering Earth. Meanwhile, it set up a mechanism for the joint control of websites (apps) offering infringing and pirated contents, and deleted more than 30,000 pieces of information in respect of cinema movie infringement and piracy. The NCAC joined hands with the National Office for the Fight Against Pornography and Illegal Publications, the Ministry of Public Security and Supreme People’s Procuratorate put the investigation of 90 major and influential cases of infringements and piracy high on agenda, and oversaw and guided the investigation of key copyright cases in 14 provinces, such as Jiangsu and Henan. Local governments adopted a range of measures to ramp up underlying copyright law enforcement at the community level. For example, Jiangsu launched an investigation week to crack down on online infringement and piracy. Hebei established an inquiry platform for online infringement and piracy clues and a big data platform of works’ copyright registration. Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui signed the Cooperation Agreement on the Co-building of a High-quality Development Market Environment of Copyright Industries in the Yangtze River Delta Region. Jiangsu and Zhejiang jointly launched copyright law enforcement training which strengthened exchanges on inter-provincial law enforcement. Guangdong strengthened regional cooperation and inter-departmental collaboration on copyright law enforcement in the Pearl River Delta Region.

During the conference, the Copyright Department of NCAC, the Bureau of Network Integrated Coordination Management and Law Enforcement Supervision of Cyberspace Administration of China, the Information and Communication Management Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Public Security Administration of the Ministry of Public Security gave briefings on the campaign, proposed opinions about how to advance the governance of online copyrights at the next stage and released ten major cases investigated during the “Jianwang 2019” Campaign. Representatives of relevant copyright collective management organizations, copyright-related associations, rightholder organizations, representative offices of foreign copyright certification organizations in China, internet-based enterprises and media attended the conference.