On February 9, 2023, China Business Law Journal, a famous international legal journal, officially released the “Deals of the Year 2022”. The project “dispute of unfair competition between Migu Music and Xiami Music” handled by Tahota Law Firm was shortlisted with its outstanding significance, complexity and innovation.

Dispute of unfair competition between Migu Music and Xiami Music

Project leaders: Lawyer Huang Chunhai and lawyer Luo Juan

Key categories: Unfair competition; online music

Legal counsel: Tahota Law Firm acting for Migu Music

Review of key points:

In the second instance procedure, the Higher People’s Court of Sichuan Province affirmed that Xiami Music set up a chain on its App to the network address (URL) of the source files of Migu Music’s music library without permission, which is essentially to use the songs in Migu Music's music library free of cost through technical means, and transfer the cost of expanding the music library that should be borne by itself to Migu Music. As a result, some consumers can enjoy the relevant services provided by Migu Music without the need of becoming users of Migu Music, which harms the commercial benefits that Migu Music may gain by attracting and retaining users. The subjective fault of Xiami Music is obvious. Therefore, the actions of Taobao (operator of Xiami Music) and Alibaba Music are not justified and constitute unfair competition.

As the first case of unfair competition in the music library of online music platforms, this case attracted substantial attention from the industry. It was also the first case of online unfair competition judged by the People’s Court in accordance with the Interpretation by the Supreme People’s Court of Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China after its execution.

The “Deals of the Year 2022” of China Business Law Journal includes outstanding transactions and cases selected from various fields based on comprehensive consideration of the significance, complexity, innovation and transaction scale of each project. The Journal’s annual award results are widely considered to be one of the authoritative standards reflecting the service capacity of entities in China’s legal service market. This award is a great recognition of our professional competence. In the future, we will continue to provide high-quality, efficient and comprehensive legal services to customers and the market.