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)