Who owns the copyright to forum posts?

Dianping is an online forum were consumers share their experiences – users post opinions of restaurants, shops, and entertainment venues. The website publishes a Restaurant Guide (餐馆指南) that collects member-contributed restaurant reviews for Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities.

When Sohu’s food and drink channel republished reviews of eleven restaurants, Dianping sued for copyright infringement to the tune of 70,000 yuan.

Sohu argued that since the text of the reviews originated in comments made by netizens, the book is not protected; or, if it is protected, then the copyright is shared by Dianping and the online contributors, so Dianping has no business filing a suit on its own.

The court found in favor of Dianping, for 7200 yuan and an apology.

Is this a landmark step for online IP? The Beijing News ran its article with the dek “First court judgment that confirms copyright protection status of netizen comments.” This is misleading, however, since the court actually found that the original work belonged to Dianping rather than the netizens. According to TBN report:

…[the court] believes that the text uploaded by netizens, such as “good quality meat,” “quite distinctive,” and “unacceptably underdone,” are all simple, common phrases rather than original written expression, and as such do not fall under copyright protection. So in selecting these writings, Dianping did not need netizens’ permission, and its assembling netizens’ writing into a book has originality; it is protected under copyright law and can bring suit on its own.

Dianping’s restaurant guides faced a libel suit last year from a Shanghai restauranteur, but the court found that people have a right to make poor reviews, and it dismissed the suit. But if the guide is Dianping’s creative work rather than the personal expression of a number of individuals, does it have the same protection?