Supreme People's Court of China Issues Opinions on AI Dispute Cases to Clarify Adjudication Rules

WISECODE Take

The Supreme People's Court of China issued the "Opinions on Handling AI-Related Dispute Cases" on September 7, 2026. This news is often misunderstood as a harsh punishment for AI infringement, but it is essentially a guideline clarifying the boundaries of liability for different roles. Articles 12 to 16 of the Opinions clarify the liabilities of developers, providers, and users, akin to defining defense sectors on a military front to avoid friendly fire. For instance, if a developer claims non-infringement, the court will order them to provide training data sources and records, meaning technical black boxes are no longer a shield. This poses compliance challenges for Taiwanese businesses selling AI products to China, while companies using third-party AI only for marketing remain unaffected. For businesses involved in secondary development of open-source software, attention must be paid to licensing limits; WeWisdom's patent portfolio health check service can help assess compliance risks of such hybrid developments. I suggest: first, R&D teams must establish complete records of training data and model operations for future evidence; second, if embedding open-source software, clearly label the license type and implement compliance measures to seek liability exemptions under the Opinions.