[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
 
Case review
[2] This Spring Festival holiday, cinemas were far livelier than last year. After a year of suppression, domestic cinemas finally saw a boom during the Spring Festival season. Films like *Hi, Mom* and *Detective Chinatown 3*, which repeatedly trended on social media this year, were hard to come by despite high ticket prices. At the same time, pirated versions of these films quietly spread online.

 
 

[3] Pirated film links could easily be found not only on websites and QQ groups but even on mini-programs and Taobao. Despite the abundance of "resources," it was clear that these pirated films were of very poor quality—shaky, blurry footage, noisy audio, and even silhouettes of cinema-goers moving in the background. In contrast, some paid pirated films were of much better quality.
 
[4] "8.88 yuan for six New Year films," "1 yuan per New Year film," "10 yuan for VIP online access to thousands of films"... These pirated films often had high-quality visuals and clear audio, offering a far better viewing experience than free pirated versions. According to technical experts, such pirated films might be recorded using digital cameras in theaters. As long as the camera's technical specs weren't too low and a tripod was used, the recorded content could achieve near-HD or higher quality.

 
 

[5] On February 17, Jia Ling, director and lead actress of *Hi, Mom*, posted on Weibo urging fans not to spoil the plot. Netizens commented, "No spoilers, no piracy!"
 
[6] On February 18, the official Weibo account of *Detective Chinatown 3* released an email address for reporting copyright infringement links, calling on netizens to resolutely combat piracy and protect film copyrights.
 
 
《Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 217: Crime of Copyright Infringement
Whoever, for the purpose of profit, commits any of the following acts of infringement on copyright or related rights, if the amount of illegal gains is relatively large or if there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and/or a fine; if the amount of illegal gains is huge or if there are other particularly serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined:
 
(1) reproducing, distributing, or communicating to the public through information networks, without permission of the copyright owner, their written works, musical works, artistic works, audiovisual works, computer software, or other works as prescribed by laws and administrative regulations;
 
(2) publishing books for which another person has exclusive publishing rights;
 
(3) reproducing, distributing, or communicating to the public through information networks, without permission of the producer of sound recordings or video recordings, the sound recordings or video recordings produced by them;
 
(4) Reproducing and distributing audio or video recordings of a performer's performance without the performer's permission, or disseminating the performance to the public through information networks;
 
(5) Producing or selling works of fine art bearing a forged signature of another person;
 
(6) Intentionally circumventing or destroying technical measures taken by copyright owners or related rights holders to protect copyright or related rights in their works, audio or video recordings, etc., without the permission of the copyright owner or related rights holder.
 
 
[1] The author's perspective
It is worth pondering that such a huge industrial chain, from recording to distribution, undoubtedly deals a heavy blow to the film industry. This act of unauthorized filming and distributing pirated films not only infringes on civil rights but may also violate criminal law, leading to criminal liability, which is also a challenge to the law.
 
Yet despite this, why does this "industry" continue to thrive, and why is its audience still so large?
 
The author believes the first factor is price. Movie tickets often cost dozens of yuan, while online pirated versions cost only a few yuan or are even free. Although the viewing experience is far inferior to that of a cinema, the price advantage is clear. The second factor is convenience. Online pirated content can be watched on a mobile phone at any time and can be paused at will, whereas going to a cinema requires additional travel time and transportation costs.
 
However, such cheap and convenient pirated movies cause great harm to the film industry. Therefore, refusing to watch pirated movies must start with each individual. As viewers, we should firmly say no to pirated movies; as citizens, we should adopt comprehensive administrative, legal, and social measures to address the issue of piracy, thereby protecting the healthy development of the film industry.