Chinese P2P Streaming Platform PPLive Accused of Copyright Infringement

The crusade against peer-to-peer platforms extends every day – PPLive, the popular Chinese P2P TV is currently facing charges for copyright infringement, ChinaTechNews.com reports. The one doing “the suing“ is the entertainment company Beijing Shidai Yingyin International Entertainment Co. which asks to be compensated with 330,000 Chinese yuan ($47,000).

PPLive has gained quite rapidly massive popularity in China enjoying a reported
85 million users community (according to October statistics), having available a large archive of both several hundred streaming video channels and hundreds of on-demand shows. Though in their majority these are Chinese programming the service doesn’t hold back in broadcasting major sports events from all over the world, such as NBA and European soccer games, a factor that helped promoting PPLive abroad, too.

Having to sort out some issues related to complaints about content being partially blocked, a spokesperson for PPLive owner Juli Media said to ChinaTechNews that the company invested 60 million Chinese yuan in equipment to protect against copyright violation and that only in 2007.

However, besides PPLive there are other Chinese P2P streaming platforms that are hugely cashing in: PPStream made $10 million in March of 2007 and UUSee managed to gain $20 million from popular VC firms such as DFJ, Highland Capital and Steamboat Ventures after an earlier raising of $10 million from Sequinoa and others.

The good times rolled, however and now Chinese P2P companies heading toward something of a bumpy road. Lawsuits started to pour in earlier this year-starring PPStream - and the Google-supported download platform Xunlei had a unfortunate rendez-vous with the MPAA which is demanding $1 million dollars compensation. The outcome of these lawsuits is still to follow.

Supposedly a court ruling in the PPLive case will be issued sometime the following month.