Partner Li, Dazhong Won a Landmark Copyright Case against National Ballet of China

In the high profile copyright battle relating to the Chinese legendary ballet ‘The Red Detachment of Women’, Senior Partner Li, Dazhong, Dai, Wei, Wang Changfu of Beijing Offices represented Mr. Liang, Xin, the original playwright ’) and later his widow Yin, Shumin   against the National Ballet of China. The case had gone on for six years winding through China’s intellectual property legal system.

On May 18, 2015, Beijing Xicheng district people’s court made a civil judgment of first instance on this case. The court of first instance ruled that the National Ballet of China did not pay the performance remuneration of ‘The Red Detachment of Women’ after June 2003, and compensated Mr. Liang, Xin 120,000 yuan, and apologized to him for not signing the play on the official website. Both Mr. Liang, Xin and the National Ballet of China have appealed to the Beijing intellectual property court. On December 28, 2015, the Beijing intellectual property court made a second judgment on the appeal of the defendant, the National Ballet of China. The appeal was rejected and the original judgment was upheld.

On October 25, 2017, the Beijing higher people’s court issued a civil order for retrial of the case, rejecting the application for retrial by the National Ballet of China to revoke the original judgment; On May 10, 2018, the fourth branch of the Beijing People’s Procuratorate of the P. R. China issued a decision not to support the application for supervision because ‘the reasons for applying for supervision lack sufficient evidence and legal basis’.