Beijing High People's Court Releases Typical Case: Using AI to Generate Infringing Images and Making Puzzles for Sale, Constituting Copyright Infringement

Mars Finance News, April 22: The Beijing Higher People’s Court released a report on the 2025 status of judicial protection of intellectual property in Beijing courts and published typical cases. These include a case involving the crime of copyright infringement through the use of AI-generated models. In explaining the typical significance of the case, the court said that it clarifies the lawful boundaries for applying AI technology and makes it clear that AI technology is not an infringement “shield.” The act of using AI as a tool to copy, reproduce, and distribute others’ original artwork without permission and to profit from it meets the elements required to constitute the crime of copyright infringement. The court also clearly defined the standards for determining corporate crimes and joint crimes, and cracked down on the full-chain infringement pattern of “stealing images—AI processing—e-commerce sales,” effectively deterring new types of intellectual property crimes in the digital economy era. (Beijing Daily)