Court upholds ruling in facial recognition case

The Intermediate People's Court in Hangzhou city of Zhejiang made a final ruling Friday afternoon, upholding the previous judgment that Hangzhou Safari Park should pay 1,038 yuan ($158) in compensation to a local resident for breach of contract after insisting on the use of facial recognition technology to gain entry following an upgrade to its park admission system.

Guo Bing, an associate professor of law at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, filed a lawsuit against Hangzhou Safari Park at the Fuyang District People's Court in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, last year over the collection and use of visitors' facial recognition details.

The litigation is believed to be the first in China involving facial recognition technology as its use increases nationwide.

Guo paid 1,360 yuan in April last year to buy annual park memberships for himself and his wife and agreed to use fingerprint recognition to enter the park. They provided their information, including ID numbers, fingerprints and mugshots, to the park, according to a statement issued by the court.

The park later upgraded its entry system adopting facial recognition technology and informed Guo of the change, the court said. The park said he needed to activate the facial recognition system to be able to gain entry.

After refusing to use facial recognition due to privacy concerns and failing to negotiate the cancellation of his membership with the park, Guo took the safari to court in October last year. He said that after breaking the contract it should compensate him for his membership fee and transportation expenses and delete his personal information.

The court ordered the park to pay 1,038 yuan in compensation for Guo's loss of contract benefits and transportation costs, and to delete the facial information Guo submitted when he applied for his membership.

After the verdict, both sides appealed.

On Dec 29 last year, Hangzhou's intermediate people's court held a public hearing on the case.

Cai Jingwen contributed to the story