The Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court has upheld the copyright-infringement conviction of a man who handled advertising and promotion for an overseas pirate streaming platform, leaving him with a combined sentence of four and a half years in prison and a fine of RMB 7 million. An account of the 7 July appeal hearing names him only as Wang and the platform as “某某帆”. In a US court filing in August, iQIYI identified the platform as Aiyifan, which also runs as YFSP and IYF, and said the conviction had been upheld, TorrentFreak reported on 18 October. A Chinese report dates the appeal ruling 28 July. [1], [2], [3]

According to the hearing account, Wang ran the site and app from 2022 with people outside China, without licences from the rights holders. He handled ad placement and promotion and, through a Chongqing company, recruited staff who gave the platform technical support. The platform earned money from paid memberships and advertising. An audit found more than 4,000 unauthorised audiovisual works on it; the TV drama Blossoms Shanghai alone was played more than 5 million times in Mandarin and more than 3 million times in Shanghainese. Police arrested Wang on 20 March 2024, and he refused to confess. [1]

The first-instance court, on a prosecution brought by the Jing’an District procuratorate, found the infringement especially serious and sentenced him to three and a half years and a RMB 1 million fine. Because he was still under a 2021 suspended sentence from a court in Taizhou, Jiangsu, it revoked the suspension, giving the combined term. On appeal Wang denied all the facts and challenged the forensic comparison of works and the play counts. Prosecutors answered with data recovered from his phone, WeChat chats with co-defendants and a video of the forensic checks. [1]

In iQIYI’s civil case in the Southern District of Florida, Judge Melissa Damian awarded $1.96 million by default: $1.8 million in statutory damages for 901 registered works and $160,000 for trade mark infringement. She refused to transfer Aiyifan’s domains to iQIYI because they also carry other rights holders’ content. Instead, registrars must cancel pages and subdomains that feature iQIYI’s shows or trade marks once iQIYI gives them a list. TorrentFreak reports the sites remain online. [2]

Sources

1. ifeng.com (Phoenix New Media). 涉《繁花》等影视作品侵权案二审开庭，检察官逐一破除被告人抗辩理由. Published 2026-07-07 21:22 China time. Chinese. Byline: Not shown; photo credited to Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court. Accessed 29 October 2026. Working English title translation: Appeal hearing opens in infringement case involving Blossoms Shanghai and other works; prosecutors rebut the defendant’s arguments one by one (working translation).
2. TorrentFreak. Chinese Court Jails Aiyifan Operator, U.S. Judge Won’t Transfer Pirate Sites’ Domains. Published 2026-10-18. English. Byline: Ernesto Van der Sar. Accessed 29 October 2026.
3. NetEase (163.com), account 澳微Daily. 澳洲华人下饭神器爱壹帆要凉凉?! 网站老板被判4年半, 罚款600万! 开始无法使用. Published 2026-08-05 16:05 China time. Chinese. Byline: 澳微Daily (self-media account). Accessed 29 October 2026. Working English title translation: Is Aiyifan finished? Site boss sentenced to four and a half years (working translation).