Operators Call Chinese Blockchain-powered Copyright Platform a Success

A Chinese blockchain platform is helping to protect copyrights, and reduce costs for people trying to resolve IP-related issues, per state authorities, who are claiming the new system is proving to be a hit.

The platform was announced late last year, per Xinhua, following up on a successful model first pioneered by the Internet Court of Hangzhou, in Zhejiang Province, back in 2018.

Work began on a national platform in late 2019, with a series of pilots conducted in October, and the solution was rolled out nationwide earlier this year.

Per a report from Sina, media outlets and publishers – as well as companies issuing press releases – have already made use of the platform, which allows signatories to publish their work on their own platforms, but receive a “blockchain certificate” proving they are the original author (in the case of media articles) or content creator, in the case of video contents.

The media outlet says that some 60% of original content authors claim to have had their work plagiarized or pirated. However, prosecuting copyright infringers has proven to be tricky. Tracking down plagiarizing authors and pirates has proven time-consuming for claimants, who are often forced to amass proof themselves – in processes that can take months at a time.

The new platform, say its operators, helps identify infringements faster, and allows courts to accept infringement-related evidence quicker and more effectively.

The nationwide initiative, dubbed the People’s Copyright platform, has seen over 2 million news reports, posts, eBooks, videos and press releases issued with blockchain certification, with some 3 million pages checked for possible infringements per day.

The platform has so far proven capable of monitoring the output of 10 million media outlets, and has been integrated with nationwide court systems.

Major cable TV networks in Beijing and Jinan-based book publisher Shandong Publishing are among the companies now making use of the platform.