On September 15, reporters learned from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate that the Supreme People’s Procuratorate released the 48th batch of guiding cases with the theme of “Comprehensive Procuratorial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights”. Among them, there is a copyright infringement case involving fifteen people including Liang Yongping, Wang Zhenghang, etc., namely the copyright infringement case of the "Renren Film and Television Subtitle Group".
The prosecutor appeared in court to support the prosecution. It was found that since 2018, Liang Yongping had successively established Wuhan Chain World Technology Co., Ltd. and Wuhan Kuaiyi Star Technology Co., Ltd., and instructed Wang Zhenghang to hire Wan Mengjun and others to develop and operate the "Renren Film and Television Subtitle Group" website and Android, Apple , TV and other clients; hire Xie Minghong and others to organize translators to download unauthorized film and television works from overseas websites, translate, produce and upload them to relevant servers, and provide users with online viewing and downloading services through the "Renren Film and Television Subtitle Group" website and related clients operated by it. After identification and audit, there are 32,824 unauthorized film and television works on the "Renren Film and Television Subtitle Group" website and related clients, with a total of more than 6.83 million members. In order to obtain illegal profits, Liang Yongping arranged for Xie Wenxiang to be responsible for website and client advertising investment business; he arranged for Cong Junkai to be responsible for selling mobile hard drives containing unauthorized copies of film and television works on the website. From January 2018 to January 2021, the illegal business amount totaled more than 12 million yuan, including more than 2.7 million yuan in membership fees, more than 8.8 million yuan in advertising fees, and more than 1 million yuan in profits from selling hard drives.
On September 8, 2020, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau launched an investigation into the copyright infringement case of "Renren Film and Television Subtitle Group". In view of the significant social impact of this case, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau opened a case for investigation against the main culprit Liang Yongping, and other suspects in the same case were opened for investigation by the Hongkou District Public Security Bureau (hereinafter referred to as the Hongkou Branch). On January 29, 2021, the Shanghai Hongkou District People’s Procuratorate (hereinafter referred to as the Hongkou District Procuratorate) approved the arrest of 12 criminal suspects including Wang Zhenghang. On February 1 of the same year, the Third Branch of the Shanghai Municipal People's Procuratorate (hereinafter referred to as the Shanghai Third Branch) approved the arrest of the criminal suspect Liang Yongping. On November 22, 2021, the Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People's Court and the Shanghai Yangpu District People's Court held hearings on the two cases respectively. Liang Yongping was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for copyright infringement and fined RMB 1.5 million; Wang Zhenghang and 14 other accomplices were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from one year and six months to three years for copyright infringement, with probation applicable, and fined RMB 40,000 to 350,000 yuan. After the first-instance verdict, none of the 15 defendants appealed.