Those who play games must have heard of “Genshin Impact” produced by Mihoyo
It is the annual game of 2020 for Apple and Google platforms
This shows how popular this game is
But some lawless elements
So they started to think of “plug-ins”
In the end, of course, they “lost both the wife and the army”
Recently, the Xuhui Court in Shanghai
Tried such a case
In June 2021, the Xuhui police in Shanghai successfully cracked a case of making and selling “Genshin Impact” game plug-ins, arrested three criminal suspects, and the amount involved was about 2 million yuan. After trial, the three defendants were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from one year and six months to four years.
The court judgment shows that between October 2020 and May 2021, the defendant Zhou Moujing discussed with the defendant Sun Mousi and others, and Zhou Mou contacted the defendant Yao Moubing to obtain relevant data of the “Genshin Impact” game, and provided it to Zhou Mou for the development and production of the “KQ” plug-in program for the game.
According to judicial appraisal, from October 2020 to May 2021, the defendant sold more than 40,000 plug-in cards of various types, totaling about RMB 2 million.
The illegal product “KQ plug-in” seriously undermined the fairness of the game, interfered with the gaming experience of the general public, and caused huge economic losses to the game itself, with a huge negative impact.
After receiving the report from Mihayou, the Xuhui police immediately launched an investigation, successfully locked the suspect and obtained a large amount of solid evidence of the crime, and arrested him.
In August 2021, the People’s Procuratorate of Xuhui District, Shanghai, accused the suspect of providing illegal control programs for computer information systems and filed a public prosecution with the People’s Court of Xuhui District, Shanghai. The court accepted the case and held an open trial.
The public prosecutor determined that the defendants, in order to obtain illegal profits, jointly produced and sold plug-in programs that can invade and control computer systems. Their actions have violated Article 285, Paragraph 3, Paragraph 2, and Article 25, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, and they should be held criminally responsible for the crime of providing illegal control programs for computer information systems.
After trial
The court found that the charges brought by the public prosecutor were established
All three defendants pleaded guilty and accepted punishment
All returned the stolen money
In the end, the court sentenced the principal offender Zhou to four years in prison and a fine of RMB 50,000;
The principal offender Sun Mousi was sentenced to three years and ten months in prison and a fine of RMB 50,000;
The accomplice Yao Moubing was sentenced to one year and six months in prison and a fine of RMB 10,000.
In recent years, with the rapid development of the domestic online game industry, black industries that profit from plug-ins and private servers have also emerged.
In response to this, in June 2020, the National Copyright Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Cyberspace Administration of China jointly launched the “Sword Net 2020” special operation. Regulatory authorities continue to crack down on the black and gray industries of online game plug-ins and private servers.
Several similar plug-in cases have been cracked one after another
In August 2020, the Gaoyou City Public Security Bureau cracked a major game plug-in case, smashed 4 game plug-in sales and operation gangs in one fell swoop, and arrested 22 criminal suspects.
In March 2021, the Kunshan police in Suzhou cracked the world’s largest game plug-in case, involving people all over the world, operating multiple game plug-ins at home and abroad.
In December 2021, the Tongshan Branch of the Xuzhou Public Security Bureau of Jiangsu Province reported the cracking of a case of infringement of online game copyrights, arrested 4 criminal suspects, and destroyed a black game industry interest chain that made profits by building game “private servers”.
These criminals often face severe criminal penalties. According to several cases published on the China Judgment Documents Network, the production and sale of plug-ins and private servers are suspected of constituting crimes such as intrusion and illegal control of computer control programs and copyright infringement. The defendants were eventually sentenced. People in the gaming industry pointed out that in the “cat and mouse game” with the black and gray industries, it is necessary for multiple parties to cooperate and jointly combat, relying on dual regulation by technical and legal means, so as to safeguard the rights and interests of players and promote the healthy development of the industry.