Hong Kong entrepreneur Derek Cheung hosted and broadcast the celebrity boxing event "We Are Champs 2021" on his YouTube channel, including clips of his battle against influencer Joseph Lam Chok. However, the membership-only videos were later uploaded online illegally available for free. Former Metro Radio DJ Edmond Ling Chi-ho was sentenced to pay HK$1.75 million for illegally broadcasting the event.
In 2022, Cheung and his affiliated company, Hong Kong Esports Limited, brought proceedings against Ling for illegally livestreaming and uploading videos of We Are Champs 2021 in September 2021.
The videos uploaded by Ling were viewed for free by approximately 92,000 people. Based on the number of viewers multiplied by the full subscription profit of HK$560, the plaintiffs initially sought HK$51.52 million.
Later, taking into account that Ling did not broadcast the entire event, the plaintiffs reduced their claim to over HK$5.45 million, and then further revised it to seek no less than HK$1.6 million or HK$3.2 million.
At the High Court, Master Maurice Lam Chak-ming said the plaintiffs’ initial claim was overstated. He noted that the plaintiffs originally alleged losses of up to HK$51.52 million, and also claimed that the activity resulted in 781 new premium members for Cheung’s channel.
Based on the alleged profit of HK$560 per premium member, the total profit was HK$437,360. The court also observed that 37 subscribers had canceled their memberships after the event ended.
Considering that Ling had deleted the videos shortly after uploading them and the infringement lasted only two days, there was no evidence of any widespread distribution of the pirated content. As Ling did not obtain any monetary benefit, Lam concluded that the reasonable damages were approximately HK$1.75 million. This assessment was based on the number of new premium members and the continued subscription period of the channel.
Accordingly, the High Court ordered Ling to pay the plaintiffs HK$1.75 million and HK$292,500 in legal costs.
Cheung has operated his YouTube channel since 2013. The channel has a two-tier membership system with regular membership costing HK$25 per month, while premium membership costs HK$800 per month.
Cheung hosted We Are Champs 2021, which was restricted exclusively to his channel’s premium members, with the aim of attracting more viewers to become premium subscribers. The event increased his premium membership from 770 to 1,551.
The plaintiffs found that Ling, as a premium member, uploaded three videos totaling two hours, six minutes and 56 seconds, which attracted approximately 92,000 views for free. The plaintiffs then sent notices requesting Ling to delete the videos and alleged that the uploaded content constituted infringement and reduced the value of the original premium videos.
