Bilibili Wins Trade Libel Suit Against Chinese Careers-Focused Social Media Site Maimai
Liao Shumin
DATE:  Jan 14 2021
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Bilibili Wins Trade Libel Suit Against Chinese Careers-Focused Social Media Site Maimai Bilibili Wins Trade Libel Suit Against Chinese Careers-Focused Social Media Site Maimai

(Yicai Global) Jan. 14 -- Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili won a lawsuit against Maimai after the careers and social-networking platform refused to hand over details of a user who posted comments maligning Bilibili.

A court ruled that Maimai’s acts commercially disparaged Bilibili, and finding the online anonymous workplace forum acted without just cause, ordered it to issue a statement to mitigate the impact of the defamatory remarks and pay CNY300,000 (USD46,414) in compensation to Bilibili.

An account named Bilibili’s Employee posted comments claiming Bilibili disseminates pornographic content, the Beijing Haidian District People's Court said in its verdict.

Maimai used a false user account to post and spread false and unfavorable remarks about Bilibili, acts which constitute trade libel for purposes of unfair competition, Bilibili claimed. It sued Maimai, demanding compensation of CNY3 million (USD464,140) for economic losses and reasonable expenses, and a public retraction to mitigate the impact of the comments and apologize.

The court recently released the trial-phase civil judgment of the lawsuit between Bilibili’s operator Shanghai Kuanyu Digital Technology and Maimai owner Beijing Taoyou World Technology Development for unfair competition on its trial information website.

Spinning Yarns

Bilibili is not its competitor, and the user of the account posted the comments, which is a personal act, Maimai argued. But Maimai had no evidence to prove the comment is objective and true, and its behavior of posting the remarks constitutes fabricating and spreading false information, the court ruled.

The court held Bilibili's claim that Maimai had posted the comment to be tenable because Maimai refused without just cause to refute this by providing the personal information of the account user. Maimai's actions thus constituted commercial defamation, it ruled.

Maimai must issue a statement on its app and the top of its site’s career information exchange section to lessen the effect of the incident on the plaintiff and keep the statement there for 15 days, the court ordered, adding it must also pay Bilibili CNY200,000 to cover its losses and CNY100,000 to defray its reasonable expenses.

Editor: Ben Armour, Xiao Yi

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Keywords:   Bilibili,Maimai,Law Suit