Ed van der Hoek: Online Copyright Infringement

Ed van der Hoek, a Dutch artist, has been creating paintings with animals in classic cars as his main theme for almost thirty years. Since 2015, Ed has been finding a large quantity of infringing cushions, bags, carpets, umbrellas and other consumer goods having been sold on various Chinese e-commerce platforms and international platforms. In 2023 alone, the artist had counted over seventy Chinese sellers using his art works without his permission through a brief search covering only one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in China. Since China is a member of the Berne Convention, copyright created in most of the countries around the world will automatically be protected in China. After learning that the items printed with his artwork without his permission constitutes a copyright violation in China and that he could enforce his copyright in China, Ed decided to defend his IP rights.