The ever-changing Internet field provides increasing demand and
challenge for lawyers in China. However, the number of such lawyers
who are qualified is far from sufficient.
When the "Internet lawyer" is mentioned, generally, it may refer
to two definitions, namely, lawyers who specialized in legal cases
involving Internet content; lawyers who exercise law suits via the
Internet. The former seems more "technical" and attracts more
attention comparatively. This kind of lawyer is usually labeled
such due to owning a personal website, working overtime, and
perhaps even being a computer "geek" as well.
Due to imperfect regulations and rudimentary game rules, many
Internet-related cases pursue justice through the courts but in
unfavorable conditions. Days ago, eighteen netizens sued the
Friendship Publishing House of China, claiming online plagiarism.
The case is an eye-catching one. Before this, the plaintiffs knew
almost nothing about their own rights, let alone how to safeguard
them. Another case, concerning a dispute between online game
players and a game operator, in September, shows the problem of
either side being successful.
Comparing the rise in Internet-related cases, lawyers who are
qualified or have relevant experience in the area are no more than
20 in Beijing, where 7,000 lawyers work. It is estimated that the
demand for Internet lawyers will occupy at least five percent of
the whole sector where now there is a 90 percent shortage.
Mr. Yang and Mr. Chen are two prominent and typical lawyers of
this kind.
Mr. Yang Anjin, 32, from the Jincheng Lawyers Firm, majored in
electronic technology at college, and has working experience as an
electronic engineer since graduation. After becoming a lawyer, he
specialized in intellectual property and has become an Internet
specialist. Now, most of his business is related to Internet
intellectual property. He was the plaintiff's lawyer in the
above-mentioned plagiarism case.
Mr. Chen Zhihua, 39, director of his own law agency, majored in
medicine at college. After being involved in the cyber world at an
early time, Chen set up the first Chinese lawyer's personal
website, http://www.angelaw.com. The content is mostly legal and
medical knowledge. Concentrated in medical disputes as his staple
business, he chooses online-cases as a sideline.
As for gathering evidence, the situation online lawyers face is
either too easy or too difficult. Generally, there are four ways to
gather Internet-involved evidence:
First, log on to the net at court. According to Chen Zhihua, in
2000, a website creator and an administrator sued a renowned web
station, claiming the defendant infringed upon their copyright by
copying webpage layout, color design, column content and search
engine into one of its channels. In order to gain instant evidence,
Chen suggested to log on the Internet by dialing at court,
which was the first of its kind here. Both sides expressed no
dissent towards the evidence.
Second, notarizing the evidence-gathering process. Yang
said that since Internet data is easily erased and hard to be
traced, dialing-at-court evidence gathering means is risky. The
above-mentioned plagiarism case undertook off-line evidence
gathering. Under the monitor of notary public, the unauthorized
content of the defendants' website was printed out and was made
into notarial certificates which noted print process, date, place,
access type, and browsing program etc.
Third, confirming user account identification. For cases
concerning unauthorized copying of written work of registered
Internet users, the difficulty of identifying the real author lies
in how to pinpoint the original account. The author has to show his
or her ID card and log into the web station to reveal his personal
data under the monitor of notary.
Fourth, accessing the defendant's web server. If evidence data
were stored in a defendant's server, a lawyer has to undertake a
secret and unwarned action, logging into the server without
notifying the defendant, to gain evidence. But this has to be under
the authorization of the court.
The growing IT industry provides great opportunity for lawyers
in fields like software copyright, hardware, trademark, patent
protection, database protection, e-commerce, reputation
infringement, unfair competition and other online crime. And these
require a lawyer to have a good knowledge of both IT spheres and
the law.
Since the first case of the kind emerged in 1997, the Internet
lawsuit has begun to rise. As Yang Anjin introduced, the early
Internet-related cases mainly focused on the ownership of domain
names. After the break of the Internet bubble in 2000, the other
cyber disputes flooded in. Both web stations and companies need
long-term law consultative services in terms of Internet legal
affairs, Yang Anjin suggested. However, many neglect this and their
recklessness and ignorance leads to more cases. Though only a small
number of lawyers work in the field and the charge is relative low,
the Internet-related law business is regarded as a promising
one.
(China.org.cn by Li Liangdu, October 13, 2003)