Fan-translating comics, reposting films and shows, sharing cloud links and pirated e-books is infringement even without charging; hanging ads or taking membership fees can bring a criminal sentence

Translating someone else’s work without permission and posting it, or putting it online, is infringement even without charging — it must be taken down and compensated. Once you hang ads or take membership fees, it counts as doing it for profit. Earning 30000 yuan (3万), disseminating 500 titles, or reaching 1000 members is enough for a criminal sentence, up to 10 years at the top. The boss of the Renren Yingshi subtitle group got 3 years 6 months.

Cost

No money. What you buy or download you may watch and tinker with yourself — just do not put it online for everyone. Do not run resource sites or groups that hang ads or take membership fees, and do not sell cloud links. The hard part is not joining as a reposter when “everyone is sharing.”

Benefit

First, civil. Among the rights copyright law gives authors is the right of translation — turning a work from one language into another. There is also the right of information-network dissemination — putting a work online so the public can see it anytime, anywhere. Translating another’s work without permission is infringement. Putting a work online without permission is also infringement. Infringers must stop the infringement and compensate losses. Only using another’s already published work for personal study, research, or appreciation needs no permission and no payment. How much to pay: first reckon the rightsholder’s actual loss or what you earned. If neither can be reckoned, the court sets it between 500 yuan and 5000000 yuan (500万). Intentional infringement with serious circumstances can be ordered at 1 to 5 times. Reasonable expenses the rightsholder spent to stop the infringement are paid together. Next, criminal. The premise of Criminal Law Article 217 is “for the purpose of profit.” Putting another’s work online for the public to see without permission, once the threshold is met, is the crime of infringing copyright. Up to 3 years, with a fine at the same time, or only a fine. A huge amount or especially serious circumstances: 3 to 10 years plus a fine. What counts as for profit: besides selling, hanging paid ads on a page counts; collecting registration or other fees under a membership system also counts. Service fees, membership fees, and ad fees collected all count as illegal gains. The criminal threshold is met by hitting any one of the following. Illegal gains of 30000 yuan (3万) or more. Illegal business volume of 50000 yuan (5万) or more — in the Renren Yingshi case that was total income from membership fees, ads, and selling hard drives. Disseminating another’s works online totaling 500 pieces (titles) or more. Downloaded 10000 (1万) times or more, or clicked 100000 (10万) times or more. Disseminating under a membership system with 1000 or more registered members. If none of these is reached but two items each reach half or more, that also counts. Ten times these figures moves into the 3-to-10-year band. The fine is generally 1 to 10 times illegal gains. Official case 1: Liang Yongping and others downloaded unauthorized films and shows from foreign sites, organized translation and subtitles, and uploaded them. The titles were on the “Renren Yingshi subtitle group” site and client for online viewing and download. The site held 32824 unauthorized audiovisual works and over 6830000 (683万余) members. From January 2018 to January 2021 it took over 2700000 yuan (270余万) in membership fees and over 8800000 yuan (880余万) in ad fees. Selling mobile hard drives loaded with films earned another over 1000000 yuan (100余万). The site hung a “donation” QR code; donating unlocked membership benefits. Prosecutors found that was membership fees under another name. On 22 November 2021 Liang was sentenced to 3 years 6 months and fined 1500000 yuan (150万). Another 14 people got from 1 year 6 months to 3 years, all suspended, with fines of 40000 to 350000 yuan (4万 to 35万). Official case 2: Ke used crawler software to grab playback addresses for over 50000 films and shows, put them on his own site and app for free viewing, sold ads by impressions on the splash screen, and earned over 350000 yuan (35万余). In 2023 he got 3 years, suspended for 4 years, and a fine of 400000 yuan (40万). Official case 3: Huang rented servers at home and built a music-download forum. He uploaded over 100000 (10万余) songs into 18 cloud drives and posted links on the forum. Members topped up for forum coins to get links and extract codes. Member top-ups totaled over 500000 yuan (50余万). In 2023 he got 3 years, suspended for 4 years, and a fine of 550000 yuan (55万) (nationwide; judicial interpretation in force from 26 April 2025)

Notes

The beneficiary is you. Buying to watch yourself, or translating for yourself, is within what the statute allows. The line is “putting it online for everyone to see.” Subtitle and fan-translation groups that do not charge do not meet the crime of infringing copyright, because that crime requires a profit purpose. Civil infringement still stands; rightsholders can demand takedown and compensation. In Japan, not charging can still be unlawful. In February 2018 several Chinese citizens in Japan were arrested on suspicion of violating Japanese copyright law. The Chinese consulate-general in Nagasaki then reminded: translating, publishing, or disseminating works without authorization may be unlawful even without profit. Once you hang ads, open memberships, or trade “donations” for membership benefits, you fall into the for-profit band. In the Renren Yingshi case, people who only translated or proofread and took little part were treated as witnesses by police. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate wrote in that case that those who start it, divide the money, and run the platform should be pursued strictly. Employed accessories may be treated more lightly; those brought in temporarily with light circumstances may not face criminal liability. The old 2004, 2007, and 2020 intellectual-property criminal judicial interpretations were repealed from 26 April 2025. The 2011 three-agency opinion was not named for repeal; where it conflicts with the new interpretation, the new one controls. For example the click threshold changed from 50000 (5万) to 100000 (10万). Another risk of writing fan works or derivatives for publication is in item 25 of this section (writing fan works). Printing others’ images on goods to sell is in Section 12, item 21 (buy a license for patterns). What to do when you run a platform and get a rightsholder’s infringement notice is in Section 26, item 9 (receiving an infringement notice). Making or selling crack patches and keygens is in Section 11, item 20 (crack patches and keygens).

Sources · 6

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