A cultural and sports company has been sued by a South Korean company for over 5.14 million yuan due to the use of 16 golf simulator software in its stores. At a critical moment, the legal team of Shengheng Law Firm, with their professional legal literacy and precise defense strategy, not only helped the cultural and sports company significantly reduce economic losses, but also successfully eliminated joint liability risks, demonstrating the firm's hard power in the field of intellectual property legal services through practical actions.
Golf store suddenly embroiled in infringement dispute, with claims amount continuing to rise
A certain sports and cultural company is a company specializing in indoor golf operations. In order to meet the needs of store operations, it purchased 16 sets of golf simulator equipment and supporting software from a technology company and installed them in its operated stores, providing consumers with simulated golf experience services.
I thought it was a routine business procurement, but it involved the sports and cultural company in a high compensation intellectual property dispute. The copyright holder of the software involved in the case, a South Korean company (hereinafter referred to as the "South Korean company"), claimed that the software used by the sports culture company was a pirated product of its copyrighted software, and the commercial use of the sports culture company constituted infringement. The company immediately filed a lawsuit with the court.
During the litigation process, the South Korean company's claims for compensation continued to escalate. At first, only the cultural and sports company was required to immediately stop using infringing software, publicly clarify and apologize, and compensate 1.1 million yuan in economic losses and reasonable expenses for rights protection. Subsequently, the South Korean company applied to add a technology company as a co defendant on the grounds of software source, and adjusted the claim amount to: the two companies jointly compensate for 5 million yuan in economic losses and 1425944900 yuan in reasonable expenses, totaling more than 5.14 million yuan.
Sheng Heng's legal team conducts in-depth analysis and formulates precise defense strategies
Faced with sudden lawsuits and high claims, the cultural and sports company entrusted the legal team of Yu Lihong from Shengheng Law Firm to handle this case.
The legal team first focuses on the core dispute point of the case: whether the cultural and sports company has intentional infringement and whether it should bear joint liability. Through multiple on-site investigations at its stores, reviewing a large number of purchase contracts, financial vouchers, and business records, and in-depth communication with the company's leaders and employees, the legal team discovered key clues: in addition to the 16 sets of software equipment involved in the case, the business premises also legally purchased and used more than 10 sets of genuine Korean company brand software, and have been paying the network service fees for genuine software in accordance with regulations. This indicates that the cultural and sports company itself has a sense of respecting intellectual property rights and is not intentionally using pirated software.
At the same time, the legal team found that the cultural and sports company had signed two formal "Golf Simulator Equipment Sales Contracts" with the technology company, which clearly stipulated the matching equipment and prices of different software. The cultural and sports company paid the corresponding amount according to the contract, and the entire procurement process followed the normal business transaction process, without any malicious collusion with the technology company.
Based on the above analysis, the Sheng Heng legal team has developed a three-tier defense strategy for cultural and sports companies, which includes denying intentional infringement, excluding joint liability, and reducing the amount of losses, in order to maximize the protection of the company's legitimate rights and interests within the legal framework.
Professional defense hits the key points and shatters high claims demands
At the court hearing, facing the opponent's strong claims, the team of lawyers led by Sheng Heng calmly responded and refuted them one by one.
In the determination of intentional infringement, the legal team submitted to the court evidence such as contracts, payment vouchers, and records of network service fee payments for the cultural and sports company's purchase of genuine software, proving that the company has been continuously using genuine software for a long time and has a consistent behavior of respecting intellectual property rights. The procurement of the software involved in this case has fulfilled reasonable duty of care throughout the entire transaction process and there is no subjective intention of infringement.
In response to the dispute over joint liability, the legal team cited Article 1168 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China on joint infringement, stating that the elements of "joint intent+joint action" are required to constitute joint infringement. In this case, the cultural and sports company and the technology company only have a buying and selling relationship for equipment, and the joint liability claimed by the South Korean company lacks factual and legal basis.
In the dispute over compensation amount, the South Korean company claims a loss of approximately 3.36 million yuan based on the market price and network service fee of genuine software, calculated at a provisional unit price of 210000 yuan for 16 sets of equipment, and demands punitive damages calculated at 1.5 times. The legal team questioned this and pointed out that the reference contract submitted by the South Korean company includes the complete set of equipment and software prices, but does not separately list the software prices, which cannot accurately prove the actual value of the software; At the same time, the operating income and expenditure details submitted by the cultural and sports company show that the company has been in a loss making state since its operation and has not obtained any additional income from the use of the involved software. The high losses claimed by the Korean company do not match the actual situation.
Winning: Significant reduction in losses+exclusion of joint liability Sheng Heng's strength recognized
In the end, the court adopted some of the defense opinions of Lawyer Sheng Heng's team and made a judgment: the cultural and sports company immediately stopped infringing on the software copyright involved, and compensated the Korean company for economic losses of 500000 yuan and reasonable expenses for rights protection of 12200 yuan, totaling 512200 yuan; Compared to the initial claim of 1.1 million yuan made by the Korean company against the cultural and sports company, the reduction exceeds 50%, and the cultural and sports company does not need to bear joint liability.
The technology company, as identified as the creator and publisher of infringing software, is required to immediately cease the infringement (stop producing and publishing software and copies), publish an apology statement to the Korean company in public media in the region, compensate for economic losses of 1.1 million yuan, reasonable expenses for rights protection of 50000 yuan, and punitive damages of 1.65 million yuan, totaling 2.8 million yuan.
Under the professional defense of the Shengheng legal team, the company successfully avoided the risk of bearing joint liability of millions of yuan and significantly reduced economic losses. And this case also fully demonstrates the professional strength of Shengheng Law Firm in the field of intellectual property legal services.
In the current era where intellectual property protection is increasingly valued, Shengheng Law Firm will continue to provide high-quality and efficient intellectual property legal services to more enterprises with its profound legal foundation, rich practical experience, and rigorous service attitude, helping enterprises avoid legal risks and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests in market competition.