Attorney Xu Xinming Interviewed by China Business : New Challenges and Coping Strategies for Intellectual Property Protection under Technologic

Recently, the open-source community of Bambu Lab became the center of a copyright lawsuit due to a user uploading a 3D printing model of POP MART's "LABUBU," bringing the conflict between new technologies such as AI and 3D printing and intellectual property protection to the forefront. In an interview with China Business Journal, Xu Xinming, Chief Attorney at the China Intellectual Property Lawyer Network and Researcher at the Intellectual Property Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, elaborated on his core viewpoints regarding technological impacts, legal responses, and corporate strategies.

Near-Zero Reproduction Costs Blur the Boundaries of Infringement

Xu Xinming pointed out that new forms of creation, such as AI-generated content, 3D models, and virtual images, have reduced the cost of reproducing works to near zero while exponentially accelerating their dissemination. This poses a challenge to the traditional copyright law standard of "access + substantial similarity." "For example, 3D printing models are disseminated through open-source communities, allowing users to easily replicate and create derivative works, which blurs the line between original designs and derivatives," he stated. He believes that the dispute between Bambu Lab and POP MART epitomizes this contradiction—while open-source communities promote technological sharing, they risk becoming hotbeds for infringement in the absence of copyright filtering mechanisms.

Judicial Practice Reshapes Platform Responsibility and Infringement Determination

Regarding platform responsibility, Xu Xinming emphasized that the current "safe harbor principle" and "red flag standard" must be reinterpreted in light of technological characteristics. He noted that judicial practice is gradually filling institutional gaps through case precedents: on one hand, refining the standards for "indirect infringement" and requiring platforms to take necessary measures for high-risk content; on the other hand, mandating that platforms establish copyright filtering and review mechanisms commensurate with their scale. Failure to do so could turn legal risks into developmental obstacles. "The more advanced the technology and the lower the barriers to creation, the more valuable originality becomes and the more critical the boundaries of property rights are," Xu Xinming added.

Balancing Innovation and Compliance as the Core

Xu Xinming concluded that technological innovation and legal compliance require dynamic balance. "Only through the synergy of judicial practice, technological empowerment, and proactive corporate compliance can a solid foundation for an innovative ecosystem be established," he emphasized. He stressed that whether for enterprises, platforms, or individual creators, safeguarding original value within the legal framework is essential to avoid reliance on "low-cost replication."