Sharing economy promotes a harmonious society, while abusing profits constitutes a crime.
Compiled from: Shandong High Court, China Women's News, Legal Daily
As society continues to evolve, technology also advances. In recent years, shared bikes, shared power banks, shared cars, and more have become increasingly common in daily life. "Sharing" not only signifies environmental friendliness but also implies lower usage costs, leading people to embrace collective sharing. However, while some sharing has positive implications, sharing what should not be shared may constitute illegal or criminal behavior.
Case review
On April 14, the WeChat public account "IP Beijing" disclosed such a case. Youku Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (referred to as Youku Company) is the exclusive licensee of the information network dissemination rights for a certain film. Youku Company discovered that an unnamed company, without authorization, provided paid online streaming services for the film in question through its app, constituting unfair competition. Consequently, Youku Company filed a lawsuit against it.
During the trial, the app company argued that it offered a "shared membership" service to users, meaning it logged into purchased Youku VIP member accounts to provide paid streaming services available to Youku VIP members to its app users. The company claimed no competitive relationship with Youku, asserting it had legally purchased and obtained the right to use Youku VIP accounts without subjective fault. Moreover, the company contended that the app achieved innovative sharing of Youku VIP accounts through the "shared membership" service, representing a new business model that neither disrupted Youku's normal operations nor harmed its interests, and that it had not profited from this.
[1] Court Opinion
The court of first instance ruled that the app company's actions violated the principle of good faith and the business ethics of the internet industry, harmed Youku's legitimate rights and interests, reduced Youku's business opportunities, and constituted unfair competition. It ordered the company to compensate Youku for economic losses of 1.946 million yuan and reasonable expenses of 54,000 yuan. The court of second instance upheld the verdict, delivering the final judgment in the case.
[1] The author's perspective
Clearly, such cases are not the first and will certainly not be the last. Beyond video platforms, early education platforms, audiobook platforms, and even membership cards for physical supermarkets have instances of sharing. Notably, due to the advanced state of internet technology, many accounts are already tied to users' personal information, and possibly even bank cards. This means that once an account is lent out for sharing, the original account holder's personal information is highly likely to be leaked, potentially leading to financial losses, as illustrated in the following case:
In August 2017, Xiao Li and He shared a dormitory, and both enjoyed playing the mobile game "Honor of Kings." Since He did not have a registered account, Xiao Li kindly lent his WeChat account to He for login. However, Xiao Li forgot that this WeChat account was linked to his bank card. He accidentally discovered the bank card binding and then used Xiao Li's WeChat account to transfer money to himself, taking 16.8 yuan in less than a month. In July 2018, He was prosecuted by the procuratorial authority for theft.
At the end of 2018, Shanghai Fengxian traffic police caught a case of driving without a license. Shen, who had not yet obtained a driver's license, borrowed a friend's shared car account to drive privately and was sentenced to 10 days of administrative detention and a fine of 1,500 yuan for unlicensed driving. The responsible officer stated that whether it is the shared car member, the shared car company, or the actual user, all bear corresponding responsibility in such incidents.
In summary, sharing an account among friends or family generally does not violate the law. However, using a shared account for profit may constitute infringement of trade secrets or unfair competition. Additionally, as shown in the above cases, renting or sharing an account with others inherently carries risks, not only of personal data leakage but also of bearing joint liability with the actual user. Therefore, safeguarding one's own account is also a step toward protecting oneself.
