An Unknown Name (copyright law/author/ID number)
An Unknown Name (copyright law/author/ID number)
Li Dongtao
Description: ID number ≠ author’s name
The Facts
My name is unknown.1
This is a case about “unknown”.
The plaintiff is a D-library.
The defendant is a .com company offering online reading service.
In 2009, a novel was published on the plaintiff’s website and the author was identified as “A”.
The author had signed a license contract with the plaintiff, but used a pseudonym “A”, not his real name. LDT
In 2012, the plaintiff found this novel at the defendant’s website, with the same name “A”.
The plaintiff sued the defendant for copyright infringement.
The defendant argued that the plaintiff should prove “A” was a real author first.
Then the plaintiff brought an ID number of a citizen to prove he was the author/licensor.
Analysis
The copyright infringement is not established.
All Chinese citizens are issued with a unique 18-digit Citizen Identity Number which stays with them for their whole life.
There is a real name recorded in the ID card, not a pseudonym.
Some citizens may have a same name, but their ID numbers are different, no confusion.
In this case, because the ID number had not been inked in the license contract, it couldn’t be used to establish the link between the author and the pseudonym “A”.
The plaintiff’s fault is obvious.
In short, the author’s name is unknown, possibly be.
版权信息: ©2026 Li Dongtao Copyright Reserved.（©2026 李东涛 版权所有）
[1] My Name Is Unknown POEM by William McGillivray at www.poetry.com/poem/114184/my-name-is-unknown
