This case originates from a civil copyright dispute heard by the Hangzhou Internet Court, focusing on the unauthorized resale and secondary modification of original commercial illustration resources, a typical digital copyright conflict frequently encountered by cross-border design enterprises. To comply with requirements, all enterprise names involved are replaced with fictitious titles: the copyright claimant is Star Art Studio, and the infringing party is Blue Cloud E-commerce Co., Ltd. The case judgment reflects the latest judicial standards of the revised Chinese Copyright Law and offers critical reference for overseas design suppliers operating on Chinese e-commerce platforms.
Star Art Studio is a creative studio engaged in original graphic design. From January to March 2024, its designers independently completed a set of 68 commercial life-style vector illustrations. The studio completed voluntary copyright registration for all illustration works through the China Copyright Protection Center, and stored design source files, creation drafts and production records via blockchain evidence preservation tools. These illustration packages were mainly sold to domestic and foreign merchants for product packaging, social media marketing and e-commerce page decoration through official authorized channels. The studio clearly stipulated in all sales agreements: buyers only obtain non-exclusive personal commercial authorization, and are prohibited from re-distributing, sublicensing, decompiling or transferring the illustration resources to any third party.
In August 2024, staff of Star Art Studio found that Blue Cloud E-commerce Co., Ltd. launched a commodity link on a mainstream domestic cross-border supply platform, publicly selling an illustration package highly consistent with its original works. After preliminary comparison, more than 55 pictures in the infringing commodity were directly copied from the original illustration group. Blue Cloud Company made minor adjustments including partial colour replacement and simple cropping to avoid preliminary platform automated detection. The defendant priced the stolen illustration pack at a low price to attract small and medium sellers, and gained continuous sales revenue within several months.
The rights holder first sent a formal takedown notice to the e-commerce platform and delivered a lawyer’s letter to Blue Cloud E-commerce, requiring immediate removal of infringing links, deletion of all pirated resource files and compensation for losses. However, Blue Cloud Company refused to negotiate. The enterprise put forward two core defences: first, it claimed that the purchased resources came from an unknown third-party online marketplace, and the company belonged to an “innocent purchaser” without subjective infringement intent; second, the defendant argued that colour modification and cropping constituted new derivative works with independent originality, and such behaviour should be recognized as legal secondary creation.
Failing to reach settlement, Star Art Studio filed a lawsuit to the Hangzhou Internet Court, requesting the court to order Blue Cloud E-commerce to cease all infringement activities, delete all pirated files, publish a statement of apology to eliminate adverse impact, and compensate economic losses plus reasonable litigation expenses including notarization fees, attorney fees and blockchain preservation fees.
During court trial, the judge adopted the abstraction-filter-comparison test, the mainstream identification method for copyright substantial similarity in China’s judicial practice. Professional technical appraisal compared the original layered source files submitted by the plaintiff and the pictures published by the defendant. The appraisal conclusion confirmed that the core line art, character proportion, composition layout and core creative expression remained basically unchanged. Simple colour adjustment and picture cropping cannot produce new original expression. Such partial revision fails to meet the statutory requirements for derivative works under Chinese Copyright Law, and does not constitute legitimate fair use.
Regarding the “innocent purchaser” defence raised by Blue Cloud E-commerce, the court held that the defendant operated an e-commerce store focusing on selling design materials. As a professional operator in the graphic resource industry, the enterprise bore higher attention obligation to verify the legality of commodity sources. The defendant could not provide formal authorization contracts, designer information, legal payment records or valid source channels of the illustrations. The court ruled that the defendant failed to fulfil reasonable review obligations, so the claim of innocent infringement could not be supported.
The Hangzhou Internet Court issued the first-instance judgment in April 2025. The court confirmed that Blue Cloud E-commerce Co., Ltd. infringed Star Art Studio’s right of reproduction and right of information network communication. The defendant was ordered to immediately delete all infringing illustrations, remove related online sales links, and compensate a total of RMB 168,000 covering economic losses and reasonable rights-protection expenses. After receiving the judgment, Blue Cloud Company did not file an appeal within the statutory period, and the judgment has taken legal effect.
This case delivers multiple practical revelations. First, copyright registration and original creation evidence preservation are crucial prerequisites for successful rights protection. Source files, creation drafts and blockchain storage records greatly improve the credibility of evidence before Chinese courts. Second, simple picture modification cannot evade copyright liabilities; only secondary creation adding substantial new creative content can constitute derivative works. Third, commercial sellers engaged in digital resource transactions cannot rely on the innocent purchaser defence; they must systematically examine the copyright authorization of all commodities. For cross-border merchants trading graphic, video and template materials inside and outside China, standardized copyright authorization management can effectively prevent similar pirating disputes.
1. China Copyright Protection Center Official Website: https://www.ccopyright.com.cn
2. China Court Network (Copyright Judicial Interpretation & Typical Cases): https://www.chinacourt.org
3. China Judgments Online (National Verdict Inquiry Platform): https://wenshu.court.gov.cn
4. National Copyright Administration of China Official Site: https://www.ncac.gov.cn
