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A year ago, Modern Express exclusively reported that the seven-year-old "fan" was restricted from projecting and sued the iQiyi platform to court. On July 1, 2024, a reporter from Modern Express learned from the plaintiff that after more than a year of trial of the case, the "iQiyi Restricted Screen Projection Case" was finally hammered in the first instance recently. The court ruled that the plaintiff enjoyed the rights and interests of 720P and 1080P high-definition projection before July 15, 2025, and the iQiyi platform compensated the plaintiff for 41 days of gold member VIP time.
7-year-old "old fans" took iQiyi to court because they were "restricted from projection".
Zhu Yuan, who works in Guangdong, has been a member of iQiyi since 2017. At the time of the incident, he was already a 7-year "old fan" of iQiyi. Not only that, Zhu Yuan has been continuously recharging to become a gold VIP member of the iQiyi platform for more than 5 years.
In the process of using iQiyi before, Zhu Yuan has been using the projection function, and any definition of the projection screen can be selected at that time. On January 11, 2023, Zhu Yuan found that iQiyi limited the projection resolution of gold VIP members to 480P, and if you need higher definition, you must upgrade to a higher level member. Zhu Yuan noticed that regarding screen projection, iQiyi had previously made changes to limit the definition of third-party screen projection, and only official clients were allowed to use the official client for screen projection without definition restrictions. "As a member, the screen projection function is an important membership benefit for me, and it is also an important consideration for me to purchase and renew iQIYI membership."
Zhu Yuan said in an interview with a reporter from Modern Express that he had no intention of stopping and understood iQiyi's adjustment behavior based on changes in the business environment, but as a senior paid member, he did not accept the platform's behavior of restricting the rights and interests of prior members. "iQIYI's unilateral forced 'cutting leeks' behavior is a bit ugly."
After communicating with iQIYI's customer service to no avail, Zhu Yuan believed that iQIYI's unilateral change of the terms of the contract had constituted a breach of contract and should bear the liability for breach of contract, so Zhu Yuan sued iQIYI in court.
Zhu Yuan's claims as the plaintiff include that he hopes that the court will rule to prohibit iQIYI from reducing or restricting the membership rights and interests of the plaintiff at the time of purchase of the membership in any way during the validity period of the plaintiff's membership, and shall not restrict the plaintiff's projection definition in any way. If the defendant continues to fail to provide the above benefits to the plaintiff from January 14, 2023, the deadline for the above rights and interests will be extended, and the extension period shall be calculated based on the time that the defendant fails to provide the above benefits within the validity period of the membership.
Zhu Yuan said: "I don't ask for civil compensation, I only ask iQIYI not to restrict the clarity of my projection in any way during the membership period, and not to reduce or limit the original membership rights." ”
After netizens collectively spoke out, iQiyi issued an announcement that it would no longer restrict screen casting
Zhu Yuan's experience has resonated with many netizens. After the "iQIYI Restricted Screen Projection Case" rushed to the hot search, netizens accused iQIYI of "eating too ugly". In the face of huge public opinion pressure, a month after Zhu Yuan took iQiyi to court, iQiyi issued an announcement.
On February 20, 2023, iQIYI released a statement on the optimization of iQIYI membership services through its official Weibo, adjusting the projection function, and iQIYI gold VIP members who are still in a subscription state will resume 720P and 1080P resolution projection.
△ On February 20, 2023, the announcement released by iQiyi
iQIYI said in the announcement released that recently, the discussion triggered by the member experience has made iQIYI deeply aware that user-centricity and attaching importance to user experience are the premise and foundation for doing a good job in content, products and services. After careful consideration and urgent research and development, iQIYI has made the following adjustments. The specific adjustment is reflected in the fact that iQIYI Gold VIP members who are still in subscription on February 20, 2023 will resume 720P and 1080P resolution screen projection services: members of a single month/season/annual card can use it until the end of this order; Consecutive monthly/quarterly/yearly members can continue to use it if they continue to subscribe in the future.
At the same time, in order to facilitate users to use across terminals, from February 20, 2023, iQIYI Gold, Platinum, and Star Diamond VIP members can log in on 5 devices, and there is no longer a restriction on the types of login devices. There is no longer any restriction on the type of devices that can be played at the same time, that is, any 2 gold VIP members (mobile phones/computers/tablets); Any 2 Platinum VIP members (mobile phone/computer/tablet/TV, etc.); Star Diamond VIP members (mobile phone/computer/tablet/TV/VR, etc.) any 3 sets. When the number of playback devices reaches the upper limit, iQIYI will prompt the user to select the playback device they wish to use. If the account is locked due to security risks such as abnormal IP addresses, users can unlock the account by changing the password.
At that time, after iQiyi released a statement, the reporter also contacted Zhu Yuan, the plaintiff in the screen restriction case, for the first time. For this change in iQiyi, Zhu Yuan did not dare to make a move, he believed that it was the result of collective voice.
After more than a year of trial, the first instance of the "iQiyi Restricted Screen Projection Case" fell under the hammer
On July 1, 2024, a reporter from Modern Express learned from the plaintiff Zhu Yuan that the first-instance judgment of the "iQiyi Restriction Projection Case" has been issued and is still under appeal.
△ Part of the content of the judgment
Zhu Yuan told the Modern Express reporter that the first-instance judgment of the "iQIYI Restricted Screen Projection Case" is: the plaintiff, as a golden VIP member of iQIYI APP, enjoys the rights and interests of 720P and 1080P resolution projection before July 15, 2025; Within seven days from the effective date of this judgment, iQIYI will compensate the plaintiff for 41 days of VIP membership time for gold members.
Zhu Yuan admitted frankly that after iQiyi released a statement on the optimization of membership services on February 20, 2023, he also thought about withdrawing the lawsuit. "But since iQiyi has been changing, I think it's better to get a judicial decision to rest assured."
Zhu Yuan believes, "Since the first-instance judgment gave me 41 days of membership, I implore iQiyi to also supplement the same amount of time for gold membership users from January 11, 2023 to February 20, 2023." ”
Although the results of the first trial have been released, Zhu Yuan still has questions in his heart that have not been answered. "After iQIYI issued an announcement on February 20, 2023, the high-definition projection rights and interests are only available to distinguished gold members who have officially opened automatic renewal on iQIYI, that is to say, under the same circumstances, the cost of a single-year card on iQIYI's official channels is more expensive than that of a continuous annual subscription. The same is constantly ordered, and the rights and interests that spend more money are less. So for the verdict, Zhu Yuan is still seriously considering whether to appeal.
A well-known lawyer once sued iQiyi for "advanced on-demand", which was supported by the court
In fact, this is not the first time iQIYI has been involved in a lawsuit.
At the end of 2019, the online drama "Celebrating More Than Years" was on the air, and the calls of netizens for more updates were also very high, and many users recharged on the video platform to become members in order to watch the drama in advance. On December 11 of the same year, iQiyi started advanced on-demand, VIP members spent 50 yuan, and they could watch 6 more episodes than members on each update day. This advanced on-demand event has aroused the keen attention of the industry and netizens. As soon as the news came out, the opposition of netizens once rushed to the hot search.
At the same time that netizens denounced and iQIYI came forward to explain, Wu Shengwei, a full-time lawyer at Shanghai Zhengce Law Firm and a well-known Weibo legal blogger, sued iQIYI in court with a complaint. Wu Shengwei asked the court to order iQiyi, which was operated by the defendant, to cancel the advanced on-demand function.
In 2020, the Beijing Internet Court held four public hearings of the case and finally pronounced its verdict. iQIYI's advance paid on-demand service violated the agreement between it and Wu Shengwei to watch popular dramas first, and iQIYI constituted a breach of contract and should compensate for the relevant liability for breach of contract. The court ordered that within 10 days from the effective date of the judgment, the defendant iQiyi provided the plaintiff Wu Shengwei with the rights and interests of the platform gold VIP membership that Wu Shengwei originally enjoyed for 15 consecutive days, so that he could enjoy the right to watch similar TV series and high-quality self-made dramas that had been updated, and compensated the plaintiff for the loss of notary fees of 1,500 yuan, and rejected the plaintiff's other claims. Since then, major video platforms have issued statements one after another, officially canceling advance on-demand.
Modern Express/Modern + Reporter Monsoon