2025.03.07
The Beijing High People’s Court rendered a final judgment in a copyright licensing dispute concerning a television drama. JunHe’s dispute resolution team represented Feihu Information Technology (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. ("Feihu"), a member of the Sohu Group, and secured a complete victory for their client. The court ruled that Shanghai Syndicate Film and Television Co., Ltd. ("Syndicate"), a subsidiary of Zhejiang Huace Film & TV Co., Ltd., return the licensing fees already paid by Feihu and compensate for the interest accrued and other expenses, totaling over RMB 74 million.
In June 2016, Feihu and Syndicate entered into a procurement agreement regarding the right of communication through information networks to a popular television drama. However, the drama was cancelled during the license term due to a lead actor’s negative event.
Feihu filed a lawsuit against Syndicate in the Beijing Intellectual Property Court. Their claim was for the termination of the contractual relationship between the parties and the return of the corresponding licensing fees. The Beijing Intellectual Property Court rendered a first-instance judgment, recognizing Feihu's right to terminate the contract and ordering Syndicate to return the licensing fees in accordance with the calculation method stipulated in the contract. The first-instance judgment upheld Feihu’s core claims. Syndicate appealed to the Beijing High People’s Court which dismissed all of Syndicate's grounds of appeal and upheld the original judgment.
The JunHe team assisted the client in winning this complex contract dispute which had a subject matter of RMB 70 million. They protected the client's legitimate rights and interests to the greatest extent and the case highlights JunHe's top-notch expertise in complex commercial dispute resolution.
Partners WANG, Jiangang and CAI, Li led the JunHe team. Partners YE, Li and LIU, Zhen were responsible for the specific work.
