涉爱奇艺“网络刷量”不正当竞争纠纷案

Beijing iQIYI Science & Technology Co., Ltd. v. Shanghai Qiniu Information Technology Co., Ltd.

涉爱奇艺“网络刷量”不正当竞争纠纷案

Lower Court Docket No.: 51, first instance (初), civil case (民), (2018) Changzhou Intermediate People's Court (苏04)

Docket No.: 778, second instance (终), civil case (民), (2019) Jiangsu High People's Court (苏)

一审案号：（2018）苏04民初51号

二审案号：（2019）苏民终778号

The acts of technical means to create fictitious access point clicks of internet audiovisual works operated by others, and of "traffic booster" to fakely increase traffic and thereby obtain improper benefits have polluted the network access data and hindered the commercial data information collection of the operators, misled the business judgment of others based on the network products or services, and can be identified as acts that have constituted unfair competition.

利用技术手段对他人运营的网络视听作品虚拟访问点击、“刷量”虚增流量并以此获取不当利益，污染了运营方网络访问数据，妨碍运营方商业数据信息采集，误导他人基于网络产品或服务的商业判断，可以认定该行为构成不正当竞争。

To judge whether a cloud computing service provider has or should have known that its behavior has infringed on the legitimate rights and interests of others, consideration should be given to whether it could freely access, control and retrieve user-specific information data and other contents, and whether it has a high confidentiality obligation, so as to reasonably define its duty of care and management obligation. Also, the legal responsibility of the cloud computing service provider could be further determined by taking into consideration also its service nature, technical conditions, case-specific circumstances and other factors, and by identifying and verifying whether the cloud computing service provider has received the qualified notice of right holder, and whether it has taken the necessary measures.

判断云计算服务商是否明知或应知其行为侵害他人合法权益，应当考虑其不能随意访问、控制、调取用户具体信息数据等内容，且负有较高保密义务的情形，合理界定其注意义务和管理义务。同时，结合云计算服务商的服务性质、技术条件、个案情形等因素，对云计算服务商是否收到权利人的合格通知，以及是否采取必要措施进行查明和认定，进而确定其法律责任。

Plaintiff-Appellant: Beijing iQIYI Science & Technology Co., Ltd. ("iQIYI")

Defendant-Appellant: Suizhou Feiliu Network Technology Co., Ltd. ("Feiliu")

Defendant-Appellee: Shanghai Qiniu Information Technology Co., Ltd. ("Qiniu")

上诉人（原审原告）：北京爱奇艺科技有限公司（简称爱奇艺公司）

上诉人（原审被告）：随州市飞流网络科技有限公司（简称飞流公司）

被上诉人（原审被告）：上海七牛信息技术有限公司（简称七牛公司）

iQIYI carries out its operation activities through offering video plays and advertisement placements on the "iQIYI website" it is hosting, and one of its business models is to sign a Video Cooperation Agreement with relevant copyright owners to obtain authorization such as the right of transmitting the video information on its network, and iQIYI pays the copyright owners license fee according to a unit price of a certain amount and the effective amount of VODs. Through investigation, iQIYI found that Feiliu had been faking the traffic of the videos placed by the iQIYI website.

爱奇艺公司通过主办“爱奇艺网站”开展视频播放、广告发布等经营活动，其中一种经营模式为通过与相关著作权人签订《视频合作协议》以获得视频的信息网络传播权等授权，再由爱奇艺公司按一定数额的单价与有效点播量向著作权人支付许可使用费。爱奇艺公司经公证发现，飞流公司对爱奇艺网站投放的视频实施了虚增流量的刷量行为。

Qiniu was founded on August 3, 2011 with its business scope including "technology development, technology transfer, technology consulting, technology services, and computer network engineering in the sector of information technology and computer science", etc. Over 45 million clicks from Feiliu on two dramas on iQIYI.com were identified to have come from four sub-domains of Qiniu. The backstage management system of Qiniu showed that the ID of the registered user of the four subdomains was 1380281813, and under the Qiniu cloud account of this registered user, it was registered with www.feiliuw.com, the domain name of Feiliu's website. At the request of iQIYI, Qiniu froze the four sub-domains mentioned above.

七牛公司成立于2011年8月3日，经营范围包括“信息技术及计算机科技领域内的技术开发、技术转让、技术咨询、技术服务，计算机网络工程”等。已查明的飞流公司对爱奇艺网两部影视剧的4500余万次刷量行为，均系通过七牛公司的四个子域名跳转访问。七牛公司后台管理系统显示，该四个子域名的注册用户I D为1380281813，该注册用户的七牛云账户下登记有飞流网的域名www.feiliuw.com。应爱奇艺公司要求，七牛公司对上述四个子域名予以冻结。

iQIYI believed that Feiliu and Qiniu had created fake clicks on the video content of videos on its website, and thus appealed to the court, requesting that the two companies be ordered to immediately stop such of their acts on iQIYI's website (www.iqiyi.com), jointly and severally compensated iQIYI for its economic losses of RMB 2.8, and published a statement on Legal Daily to eliminate the adverse impact.

爱奇艺公司认为，飞流公司、七牛公司对其网站视频存在刷量行为，遂向法院起诉，请求判令两公司立即停止针对爱奇艺网站（www.iqiyi.com）视频内容的刷量行为；连带赔偿其经济损失280万元；在《法制日报》刊登声明，消除影响。

In the first instance, the Changzhou Intermediate People's Court of Jiangsu Province held that Feiliu was engaged in market activities as an independent actor, charging fees to provide on-demand videos and other network accesses. iQIYI determined its business strategies such as royalty investment and advertising placement based on the access data of the videos on its website. The traffic generated by Feiliu was also an indicator of the interests from the normal operation of iQIYI, so there was an overlap between the two parties on the level of market competitive interests. The video access data of iQIYI was of considerable commercial value, making its protection necessary and justifiable. Feiliu used technical means to fake traffic of videos on the website of iQIYI, repeatedly and mechanically creating VODs, which, in its nature, was to obtain economic benefits by falsifying data, falsely increasing the popularity of the videos, and allowing certain parties not involved in this case to acquire additional improper benefits out of the popularity of the videos. This had clearly violated the principle of honesty and creditability, hindered the operation of iQIYI in data collection, misled iQIYI's business judgment, and even caused iQIYI to spend royalties that it did not have had to pay, which was contrary to publicly accepted business ethics, and should be identified as "other acts that hinder and disrupt the normal operation of network products or services legally provided by other operators". It had constituted unfair competition and should bear the corresponding civil liability.

江苏省常州市中级人民法院一审认为，飞流公司作为独立行为主体参与市场活动，收取费用为他人实施点播等网络访问。爱奇艺公司根据其网站视频访问数据确定版权费投入、广告投放等经营策略。飞流公司制造的流量亦是关系爱奇艺公司正常经营的利益指标，故双方之间存在市场竞争利益层面交叉重合。爱奇艺公司视频访问数据具有可观的商业价值，具有保护必要性和正当性。飞流公司利用技术手段对爱奇艺公司网站视频“刷量”，反复、机械制造视频点播量，其实质是以数据造假获取经济利益，虚增视频受青睐度，使得部分案外人因视频热播攫取额外不当利益，明显违反诚实信用原则，且妨碍爱奇艺公司运营数据采集，误导爱奇艺公司经营判断，甚至导致爱奇艺公司支出本无需支付的版权费，有悖公认的商业道德，应当认定为“其他妨碍、破坏其他经营者合法提供的网络产品或服务正常运行的行为”，构成不正当竞争并应承担民事责任。

In terms of the legal liability for cloud computing service providers to offer IaaS services (Infrastructure as a Service). Since a cloud computing service provider providing IaaS services cannot freely access, control and retrieve the contents of the servers involving specific data of users, and has a high obligation of confidentiality, so its obligations of care and management cannot be determined too harshly. Also, it cannot be exempted from its corresponding obligations of care just because it is a cloud service provider providing infrastructural network services. In general, for IaaS cloud computing service providers that do not have access to the content stored and transmitted on the server, "notification forwarding" is a quite feasible and reasonable measure to take. Furthermore, the obligation a cloud computing service provider should undertake, including Qiniu in this case, is to "forward the notification + take the necessary measures". In this case, iQIYI did not submit evidence to prove that Qiniu had or should have been aware of the situation; The infringement information elements in iQIYI's notice were not clear or complete enough to be classified as a qualified notice; Before iQIYI sent the notification email, Qiniu, in view of the communication between the technical personnel of the two sides, had frozen the domain name involved in the case, so Qiniu did not have fault, and should not bear joint and several liabilities for the infringement.

关于提供IaaS服务（基础设施即服务）的云计算服务商的法律责任问题。由于提供I a a S服务的云计算服务商不能随意访问、控制、调取服务器中涉及用户具体数据等内容，且负有较高保密义务，故确定其注意义务和管理义务不能过于严苛，同时也不能仅因其系提供基础网络服务的云服务商即免除其相应注意义务。一般情形下，对不能查看服务器中存储及传输内容的IaaS云计算服务商而言，“转通知”是较为可行且合理的一个必要措施。进一步来说，包括本案七牛公司在内的云计算服务商应当承担的义务，是“转通知＋采取必要措施”。本案中，爱奇艺公司未提交证据证明七牛公司存在明知或应知情形；爱奇艺公司的通知中的侵权信息要素不够清晰、不够完整，难以归入合格通知范畴；七牛公司在爱奇艺公司发送通知邮件之前，鉴于双方技术人员之间存在沟通，已将涉案域名予以冻结处理，故七牛公司并不存在过错，不应承担侵权连带责任。

iQIYI and Feiliu refused to accept the first instance judgment and appealed to Jiangsu Higher People's Court. Jiangsu Higher People's Court ruled in the second instance to reject the appeal and upheld the original judgment.

爱奇艺公司、飞流公司不服一审判决，向江苏省高级人民法院提起上诉。江苏高院二审判决：驳回上诉，维持原判。

Under the context of the Internet economy, new industries, new industries, and new technologies have been emerging, bringing about the emergence of fake traffic and cyber-based scams and other illegal activities that use technical means to damage the network ecology. The judgment of this case has clearly identified that the "faking traffic" behavior was essentially data forgery and unfair competition against the principle of good faith and business ethics. The judgment is of positive significance for punishing and curbing "fake traffic" and other cybercrime industries and purifying the online business environment and information ecology. At the same time, while regulating business practices and the order of competition, the court has correctly understood the legal intent and precisely defined the legal responsibilities of the actors of cloud computing applications and operations, which has not only clarified the boundaries of the legitimacy and illegitimacy of the market behavior of the technology applications involved in this case, but also demonstrated the distinctive attitude of respecting technological development and promoting technological applications and innovation.

互联网经济背景下，伴随新产业、新业态、新技术蓬勃兴起，出现了“刷量”黑灰产等利用技术手段破坏网络生态等新问题。该案裁判明确认定“刷量”行为实质是数据造假，有悖诚信原则和商业道德的不正当竞争，对于惩罚和遏制“刷量”等黑灰产、净化网络商业环境和信息生态具有积极意义。同时，法院在规制经营行为和规范竞争秩序的同时，正确把握法律意旨，精准界定云计算应用和运营主体的法律责任，既厘清涉案技术应用市场行为正当性和非正当性的边界，也彰显尊重技术发展、推动技术应用、促进技术创新的鲜明态度。

This case was selected as one of the "2020 Top Ten Typical Cases of Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights of Jiangsu Courts".

本案入选“2020年江苏法院知识产权司法保护十大典型案例”。

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