A court in the Zhejiang-province capital of Hangzhou has confirmed the legal validity of electronic data stored via the blockchain as evidence in an online copyright trial.
The Hangzhou Internet Court (杭州互联网法院) has accepted blockchain data as evidence for examination and judgement purposes in a case involving the infringement of online broadcasting rights, according to a report from Legal Daily.
The plaintiff, a Huatai XX Company (华泰××) used a third party evidence-storage platform to prove that the defendant, a Shenzhen xx Company (深圳××) published content on a website it operated for which the plaintiff retained the copyright.
The third party platform automatically captured the infringing webpage as well as conducted source recognition, before compressing the web content along with the call date by means of a hash function and uploading it to Factom and bitcoin blockchains.
The use of blockchains for data storage ensured the completeness and accuracy of the data, with the Hangzhou court concluding that it serves as a valid form of evidence in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws.
“The blockchain is a decentralised form of data storage, that possesses the unique features of openness, diffusion and irreversibility,” said a judge from the Hangzhou Internet Court.
“Its use as an electronic data storage platform possess the advantages of low-cost, high-efficiency and stability…general confirmation is given to the legal validity of this form of electronic storage.”
