The Study on Liability for Intellectual Property Infringement in Cross-Border E-Commerce Platforms from the Perspective of Chinese Law

With the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce in China, intellectual property infringement issues on platforms have emerged as a significant legal challenge confronting society. The current E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China (Hereinafter referred to as the "E-Commerce Law") and Tort Liability Law of the Peoples Republic of China (Hereinafter referred to as the "Tort Liability Law") establish the obligation of "notice and takedown" while also providing e-commerce platforms with a "safe harbor" protection. Nevertheless, ongoing challenges like jurisdictional disputes, shortcomings in e-commerce platform oversight, and the unclear enforcement of the "Red Flag Rule" still hinder the effectiveness of enforcement efforts. This study will analyze multiple Chinese judicial cases from 2019 to 2023 to reveal the three major deficiencies in China's current approach to intellectual property infringement on cross-border e-commerce platforms: i. The criteria for establishing "willful" infringement by platforms lack uniformity. ii. The boundaries of the platform's duty of care are ambiguous. iii. The measures for deterring repeated infringements are insufficiently stringent. Based on this, I propose several recommendations for legal reform, establishing a hierarchical standard for the transition from "knowingly" to "should have known," define the dynamic boundaries of the duty of care, and develop a tripartite disciplinary mechanism for repeated infringements. This study advocates for amending existing legislation to balance the protection of rights holders with the sustainable development of digital trade.