How Can HowNet "Weave a Web"

　　Liu Yue (pseudonym), a post-95 graduate, repeatedly screened and compared on the e-commerce platform, and placed an order in a seemingly "reliable" paper check shop, 36,000 words, 178 yuan each time.

Liu Yue reluctantly said: "In order to ensure that the duplicate check on CNKI is approved at one time after submitting it to the school, it is generally necessary to purchase the duplicate check service on the platform in advance."

　　In recent years, CNKI has been repeatedly pushed to the forefront due to its high price and suspected monopoly operation, which has made many colleges and students miserable.

In April of this year, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the suspension of CNKI in the face of nearly "tens of millions" of renewal fees and "harsh" renewal conditions.

　　On May 13, the State Administration for Market Regulation filed an investigation into CNKI's suspected monopolistic behavior according to the previous inspection.

This is an important measure taken by my country's anti-monopoly law enforcement agencies to actively respond to social concerns and implement normalized supervision of the platform economy in accordance with the law.

A few days ago, a number of legal experts interviewed by China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily pointed out that this move is of symbolic significance for maintaining fair competition in the academic literature database service market, promoting knowledge production and flow, and promoting innovation and development.

The HowNet model can not "medicate the head with a headache, and treat the foot with a sore foot"

　　On May 18, the second defense of the graduation thesis of the School of Law and Politics of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University was successfully concluded, and Zhang Li (pseudonym), a law student, walked out of the classroom excitedly.

According to the relevant regulations of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, students who upload their graduation thesis can check the duplicates twice free of charge through the thesis duplication checking system cooperating with the school, and apply for defense after passing the duplicate checking.

　　At the beginning of May, Zhang Li's first duplication check showed that the repetition rate of the paper was 30%.

In the same way, you should revise the paper and check the duplicates at your own expense until the repetition rate drops below 20%, and then use the school's paper management system to check the duplicates for free for the second time.

　　"I thought that since it was all written by myself, the two times the school gave me the opportunity to check the duplicates was enough." But after two free duplicate checks, Zhang Li could only turn to self-financed duplicate checks.

In his view, checking the weight at his own expense is forced to help.

"3 yuan per 1,000 words, about 50 yuan each time."

In the end, Zhang Li repeated the inquiries three times, costing nearly 150 yuan, and the paper passed the duplicate check.

　　Compared with Zhang Li, Xiaoyan, an architectural scheme designer who has worked in the industry for 5 years, has a more difficult thesis road.

In response to industry requirements, Xiaoyan needs to submit relevant papers published in core journals when evaluating his position, which prompts him to frequently search related journals and papers on CNKI for reference.

"Every article ranges from a few yuan to a dozen yuan, and it costs a few hundred yuan."

　　Xiaoyan said frankly that because CNKI's duplicate checking service is not open to individuals, they can only use "special" means to check duplicates at high prices.

On an e-commerce platform, a paper with a professional title of more than 3,000 words costs from tens of yuan to hundreds of yuan for one query.

"For us, although it is a helpless move, it is fortunate that it can solve the problem." Xiaoyan said that when carrying out the inquiry service, he also bears risks. Unpublished papers are directly sent to others, which is inevitably a little worried.

　　According to CNKI's official website, CNKI is the largest academic electronic resource integrator and distribution channel in China, ranking first in terms of the number of Chinese resource collections, the Chinese market share and the number of users.

　　"HowNet doesn't actually produce knowledge, it's just a porter of knowledge." Sun Jin, director of the Competition Law and Policy Research Center of Wuhan University, said that HowNet's core advantage is that it has mastered core copyright resources and , authors, and colleges and universities have silently "incorporated".

　　As the largest digital resource database in China, CNKI has collected more than 95% of officially published Chinese academic resources, and has integrated more than 200 million domestic and foreign periodicals. The content sources are mainly related academic journals and university graduation thesis.

　　Li Shunde, a researcher at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that CNKI has established a "HowNet model" at the beginning of its establishment, that is, authors submit manuscripts to journals to receive manuscript fees, and journals package databases and resell CNKI to obtain income, while CNKI respectively uses "packages" The works are sold to universities and individuals in the form of "libraries" and "articles".

At the same time, CNKI has obtained the copyright of students' graduation thesis through cooperation with colleges and universities.

　　"The problem brought about by HowNet's service model is already 'freezing three feet is not a day's cold'. If it is 'healing the head and treating the pain in the foot', the problem cannot be solved fundamentally, but the social and historical roots must be , legal roots and other aspects, carefully sort out, find the most essential problem of CNKI, and completely innovate." Li Shunde said.

Anti-monopoly law focuses on the use of monopoly position to hinder competition

　　On March 21, Guo Bing, a distinguished associate professor at the School of Law and Politics of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, sued CNKI for abusing its dominant market position, which was formally filed by the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court.

This became the first anti-monopoly lawsuit caused by CNKI's alleged abuse of its dominant market position.

　　In October 2021, Guo Bing was required to submit a duplicate report after his paper passed the preliminary evaluation due to his participation in a public interest litigation.

Guo Bing searched CNKI for a long time, but found that he didn't even have the chance to register.

He learned that CNKI does not open thesis duplication checking service to individual users. Students in school have limited opportunities for CNKI duplication checking only when they submit their graduation thesis, and teachers do not have personal use rights.

In desperation, Guo Bing sent the paper to the library staff to ask for help to pay for the duplication check.

　　"HowNet does not open duplication checking services to individuals, which is an abuse of its dominant market position." Guo Bing learned from his communication with some graduate students who he had instructed that in order to graduate smoothly, many students were forced to turn to e-commerce platforms to purchase papers for duplication checking. , weight reduction services, many of which have been deceived.

"I hope to reveal the problem through this case and boost anti-monopoly law enforcement." To this end, Guo Bing formally filed a lawsuit with the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court in December 2021.

　　"The issues involved in anti-monopoly are relatively complex, involving not only the identification of the relevant market, but also the identification of the dominant market position of the relevant subject." Wang Qiongfei, founding partner of Zhejiang Kenting Law Firm, introduced that monopoly is divided into monopoly position and monopoly behavior. The monopoly law focuses on the anti-use of monopoly position to hinder competition, that is, abuse of dominant market position.

　　Wang Qiongfei pointed out that Guo Bing’s case against CNKI was mainly aimed at CNKI’s refusal to trade in abuse of its dominant market position.

In addition, CNKI also involves issues such as restricted transactions and unfairly high prices.

　　"From the perspective of anti-monopoly law, operators with a monopoly position cannot set prices too high. Once it is considered to constitute an unfair high price behavior, it will be regarded as an abuse of market dominance." Wang Qiongfei noted that the pricing on HowNet In the system, there are cases where the price is higher than other databases, and the price increases year after year without evidence of rising costs.

At the same time, when CNKI sells academic resources to the outside world, it compulsorily sells non-core digital journal resources that are not required by universities.

　　"Guo Bing will have a long way to protect his rights." He said that it is very difficult for consumers to sue platforms in the anti-monopoly field, but the warning is very useful. "The investigation of CNKI by the State Administration for Market Regulation has released a clear regulatory signal. "Wang Qiongfei said.

Breaking high walls and injecting surging energy into knowledge sharing

　　"They didn't notify me, they posted my article on CNKI, and I would be charged for downloading it myself." At the end of 2021, Zhao Dexin, a retired professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, sued "China Knowledge Network" for collecting more than 100 of his papers without authorization. All the lawsuits were won, and the accumulative compensation was more than 700,000 yuan, which caused widespread public concern.

　　On May 7 this year, China Judgment Documents Network published 10 civil judgments of CNKI and Zhou Xiulan in the second instance of the dispute over the infringement of the information network dissemination right of works. economic losses, and dismissed all of CNKI's appeals.

　　Zhou Xiulan, who is about to celebrate her 94th birthday, and her husband Zhao Dexin are both retired professors at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.

Zhou Xiuluan also chose to defend her rights after Zhao Dexin defended her rights against CNKI's unauthorized inclusion of more than 100 of his papers.

　　However, after the two seniors won the case, CNKI removed their full-deployment papers respectively.

This move has sparked heated discussions: if you lose, you will lose money, remove the articles involved in the case, and artificially create barriers to knowledge flow. Who will be the winner in the end?

　　In an interview with the media, Professor Zhao Dexin made it clear, "Our wish is not to let CNKI collapse, but I don't want such a situation where one academic journal website dominates."

　　According to statistics, CNKI affiliated companies have been involved in more than 1,500 lawsuits, of which more than 1,100 were disputes over copyright ownership, infringement disputes, and infringement of the right to disseminate work information online.

　　"If more and more people take up legal weapons to defend their rights on CNKI, will CNKI also remove all articles of 'rebels' from the shelves? This really goes against the original intention of the platform for academic dissemination and communication." Guo Bing He said that CNKI, as a national knowledge infrastructure project, aims to create an exchange and cooperation platform that supports knowledge innovation, learning and application in various industries across the country. .

　　Li Shunde emphasized that the governance of HowNet is not only a matter of the State Administration for Market Regulation, but ultimately must be vigorously coordinated with administrative departments such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the judicial department to jointly manage it.

　　Sun Jin said that the status quo of CNKI is the result of excessive commercialization. To truly solve the problem, it is necessary for the state to fully introduce or cultivate market competitiveness in the development and operation of academic databases, and break the traditional monopoly of academic database copyright resources. Form a multi-competitive pattern, thereby establishing a market competition mechanism and making it operate effectively.

　　For young students and scholars, they hope to inject young and surging power into knowledge sharing through the iconic supervision of CNKI by relevant national functional departments.

　　China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Han Yangxian Oujie Source: China Youth Daily