Living in a county town, starting as a stock market maker...

The gallery was full of people.

Photography was not allowed before the trial began, but reporters still pointed their cameras at the defendant's dock, where any expression could become tomorrow's headline.

This is the final copyright review between Starry Sky Holdings and dozens of content companies, including Shengshi Huacai.

The verdict in this lawsuit will influence the rules of the content industry for the next decade.

Su Qingying sat next to Gu Ming. She had handled multi-billion dollar mergers and acquisitions on Wall Street, and her palms were slightly damp at the moment.

She whispered a reminder:

"The opposing firm has hired Zhang Cheng'an, the managing partner of Junlin Law Firm. He has been practicing law for thirty years and has never lost a case. Moreover, two of the juries today are his students."

This was a scheme set up by Shen Guodong using all his remaining connections.

Gu Ming leaned back in his chair, looking relaxed.

"quiet!"

The gavel fell, and the trial officially began.

Zhang Chengan stood up.

He was over sixty years old, with neatly combed hair and wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

The courtroom fell silent as soon as he spoke.

"Your Honor, jurors. My client, Mr. Shen Guodong, and representatives from dozens of content creation companies are here today to uphold order."

His voice was steady and loud, and his statement carried a sense of morality.

"The defendant, Starry Sky Holdings, has, over the past few months, openly induced users to create derivative works using unauthorized music and film clips on its short video platform, generating huge profits for the defendant company!"

This accusation is harsh, hitting the core of the problem.

With a wave of his hand, Zhang Chengan displayed screenshots of the Star Platform event on the large screen behind him.

"Look! 'Participate in the remake and win a limited-edition reward featuring the virtual idol Zero!'" This is pure bait!

"Starry Sky Holdings, as a platform with a massive user base, failed to fulfill its obligations of review and supervision. Instead, it used rewards as bait, turning tens of thousands of ordinary users into tools for its infringement!"

"We sue one account, and they create ten thousand. We ask them to take down a song, and they get a hundred cover versions all over the internet!"

"This is a premeditated and organized act of sabotage against the content copyright system!"

According to Article 23 of the Information Protection Law, if a network service provider knows or should know that its services are being used for infringement but fails to take necessary measures, or directly obtains economic benefits from it, it constitutes instigating or aiding and abetting infringement and should bear joint and several liability for damages!

"Therefore, we request the court to rule that Starry Sky Holdings should not only bear joint and several liability for all infringing content on its platform, totaling 2.7 billion yuan, but also permanently shut down its platform!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire room erupted in uproar.

Zhang Chengan's logic is very clear.

Instead of discussing individual acts of infringement, he directly defined Star Holdings as the principal offender and all users as accomplices.

This accusation put Gu Ming in a dilemma.

If the company admits to inducing infringement, it will go bankrupt due to huge compensation claims.

If you sue users to protect yourself, you will lose all your users.

No matter which option you choose, you'll lose.

Sitting in the plaintiff's seat, Shen Guodong finally revealed a smug smile on his pale face.

He lost in business.

But within the rules, the rules he'd played for decades, he felt Gu Ming was still a bit green.

"The defendant may begin their statement."

The judge's voice rang out.

All eyes were on Gu Ming.

"Your Honor, I object!"

Zhang Chengan immediately retorted, "Mr. Gu Ming is the company's chairman; his statement lacks technical expertise!"

"Objection overruled."

The judge glanced at Gu Ming and said calmly, "I'd like to hear the understanding of the rules from the man who created the stars."

The courtroom was quiet.

Gu Ming walked to the witness stand, without looking at the legal team opposite him or at the audience.

He spoke calmly into the microphone.

"Before I begin my presentation, I would like to ask Attorney Zhang a question."

A kitchen knife factory produced a kitchen knife. A person used this knife to kill someone. Was it the person's fault or the kitchen knife factory's fault?

Zhang Chengan frowned:

"Of course it's human fault; this analogy is meaningless."

"very good."

Gu Ming laughed. "So, a telecommunications company installed a network cable. Someone used that cable to spread rumors. Is it the person's fault, or the telecommunications company's fault?"

Zhang Chengan's expression changed:

"That's just sophistry! The telecom company only provides the channel; it can't predict what content users will transmit!"

"Absolutely correct!"

Gu Ming raised his voice slightly.

"Like telecommunications companies, the Star Platform provides tools and channels for information flow! We are neutral!"

"Attorney Zhang just mentioned Article 23 of the Protection Regulations regarding 'knowing or should have known.' So, I'd like to ask, on a platform like Xingchen where over 100,000 videos are uploaded every second, how do we 'know' which video, which song, and which segment is infringing?"

"Is it done by manual review? A reviewer can review a thousand videos a day without eating or drinking. We add a hundred million videos every day. This means that in order to meet the opposing lawyer's requirement that 'they should know,' I need to hire 100,000 reviewers. These 100,000 reviewers also need to be proficient in the copyright laws of all countries and languages ​​in the world, and have memorized all the music, movies, and pictures in history."

"That's unrealistic."

Gu Ming's words made everyone present think.

Yes, in the internet age, the amount of information is so vast that "knowing" is almost impossible.

"Therefore, we chose to solve this problem in a different way."

Gu Ming snapped his fingers.

The Starry Sky Legal team behind him immediately presented a document to the judge.

"From the very first day of our company's establishment, we have invested more than 300 million yuan to develop a 'Starry Sky Shield' artificial intelligence review system."

"This system has a complete database of genuine audio and video content in China. Any uploaded video will be compared with the database within 0.1 seconds using technologies such as voiceprint matching and keyframe extraction. Once suspected infringement is detected, the system will immediately limit the video's reach, remove it from the platform, and issue an infringement warning to the uploader."

"In the past three months, our AI has proactively removed more than 60 million videos suspected of infringement and blocked 9.7 million malicious uploads. This efficiency is one million times that of manual review."

"We haven't induced infringement; on the contrary, we're the only company in China proactively protecting copyright using AI!"

"We've done far more than the legally mandated 'notice-and-takedown' principle!"

"This is our answer. Faced with massive amounts of information, we chose not to build a small dam, but to create a system that can self-evolve and automatically purify itself!"

Gu Ming looked at Zhang Cheng'an, whose face was already turning pale, and continued:

"The 'safe harbor' principle of law is to protect the survival of 'channels' like ours. Because legislators understand that if knife factories were to be held accountable for murderers, then there would be no more knife factories in the world."

"But today, the plaintiff is demanding that we bear joint liability for that one in a million infringements that slipped through the net, which even AI cannot detect."

"Their demands are not about protecting copyright. They are killing 'the channel'."

After he finished speaking, the entire room fell silent.

Everyone was amazed by the prospects of AI copyright protection described by Gu Ming.

He wasn't debating at all.

His advanced understanding made the other party's accusations based on old rules seem ridiculous.

But it's not over yet.

"That concludes my statement."

Gu Ming bowed slightly to the judge. "Now, on behalf of Starry Sky Holdings, I submit a reverse claim to the court!"

Reverse claim?

"We are suing the plaintiff, Mr. Shen Guodong, and his legal team for alleged malicious litigation!"

"They were fully aware that our technology and business model met the liability exemption clauses of the 'safe harbor principle,' yet they still abused their litigation rights, attempting to achieve through litigation what they could not achieve in business competition—their goal of crippling our company!"

"At the same time," Gu Ming's voice turned cold, "we will also report the plaintiff to the court for obstructing testimony!"

He snapped his fingers again.

The image on the big screen flashed.

A surveillance video has been released.

The scene shows a young lawyer from Junlin Law Firm handing a thick envelope to the founder of an independent music platform who was supposed to appear in court as a witness for Xingchen Fang.

Immediately following was a clear recording.

"...Attorney Zhang instructed that as long as you don't appear in court tomorrow, or if you do appear, say that Xingchen's 'audio engine' is just a gimmick, then the 300,000 yuan is yours..."

Zhang Chengan's face instantly turned pale.

He staggered back a step, almost collapsing to the ground.

In the plaintiff's seat, Shen Guodong's pupils contracted.

He's finished.

He realized that he had not only lost the case, but would also face huge reverse damages and even criminal charges for malicious litigation and obstruction of testimony.

From the very beginning, Gu Ming never intended to win.

He wanted to get himself into prison.

"puff--"

Shen Guodong felt a sweet taste in his throat, and then suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, which splattered red on the table in front of him.

He lost his composure in court.

……

Half an hour later.

The court pronounced its verdict.

"After deliberation by the collegial panel, the judgment is hereby pronounced as follows:"

"First, all claims by the plaintiffs, Shen Guodong et al., against the defendant, Xingchen Holdings, are dismissed."

"Second, the defendant, Xingchen Holdings, operates in accordance with the safe harbor principle and therefore does not bear joint liability for compensation."

"Third, the court accepted the defendant Xingchen Holdings' malicious lawsuit against the plaintiffs Shen Guodong et al. for counterclaims. After calculation, the court ruled that the plaintiffs should compensate the defendants for the economic losses and reputational damages caused by this lawsuit, totaling RMB 300 million."

"Fourth, the clues of the plaintiff's suspected crimes such as obstruction of testimony and commercial bribery shall be transferred to the public security organs for handling."

Court adjourned!

The gavel fell, making a crisp sound.

Gu Ming walked out of the courthouse; the sunlight was blinding, and a large number of reporters surged behind him.

Shen Lian blocked his way.

She stared intently at Gu Ming, and uttered a sentence in a trembling voice that stunned Gu Ming.

"Just before the court hearing, I received the news..."

"My dad... he handed over all his shares, trusts, and those shady overseas assets..."

"All of them were transferred free of charge to an organization called 'AME'."