Real-World Dilemmas in Copyright Infringement of Online Literary Works and the Improvement of Criminal Law Protection

The advent of the digital era has not only catalyzed the prosperity of online literary works but also introduced significant challenges to traditional copyright protection mechanisms. Copyrighted works are being rapidly digitized, making them vulnerable to effortless replication and widespread dissemination across online platforms. The rise of digital piracy has presented novel issues and challenges to China's established copyright protection framework. Currently, however, China's conventional civil law approach to protection remains excessively lenient, while its criminal law provisions are unduly restrictive. While it is true that the Amendment (XI) to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China sought to enhance the regulation of copyright infringement for online literary works through targeted revisions to Article 217 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, empirical evidence from judicial practice suggests that these amendments have yet to yield the anticipated outcomes.