New Year blockbusters welcome the spring, pirated movies steal the fruits

[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
 
Case review
During this year's Spring Festival holiday, cinemas were much livelier than last year. After a year of suppression, domestic cinemas finally broke out during the Spring Festival season. Movies such as Hi, Mom and Detective Chinatown 3, which frequently trended on social media, remained in high demand despite higher ticket prices. At the same time, some pirated films were also quietly circulating online.

 
 

Pirated movie links can be easily found not only on websites and QQ groups, but also on mini programs and Taobao. Despite the abundance of such “resources,” it is not hard to see that the quality of these pirated movies is very poor—shaky and blurry visuals, noisy and unclear audio, and sometimes even the backs of moviegoers walking around in the theater. By contrast, certain paid pirated movies are of much better quality.
 
"8.88 yuan for six New Year films," "1 yuan for one New Year film," "10 yuan for VIP online access to tens of thousands of films"... These pirated films often have high picture quality and clear sound, offering an overall viewing experience far superior to free pirated films. According to technical experts, such pirated films may be recorded using digital camcorders while the movies are playing in theaters. As long as the camcorder's technical specifications are not too low and the tripod is properly secured, the recorded content will be roughly of high-definition quality or above.

 
 

On February 17, Jia Ling, director and star of the film Hi, Mom, posted a message on Weibo urging everyone to avoid spoilers. Netizens commented one after another, “No spoilers, no piracy!”
 
On February 18, the official Weibo account of the movie Detective Chinatown released an email address for reporting leads on infringing links, calling on netizens to resolutely crack down on piracy and protect film copyrights.
 
 
The Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 217: Crime of Copyright Infringement
Whoever, for the purpose of profit, commits any of the following acts of infringement on copyright or related rights, if the amount of illegal gains is relatively large or if there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and/or a fine; if the amount of illegal gains is huge or if there are other particularly serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined:
 
(1) reproducing, distributing, or communicating to the public through information networks, without permission of the copyright owner, their written works, musical works, artistic works, audiovisual works, computer software, or other works as prescribed by laws and administrative regulations;
 
(2) publishing books for which another person has exclusive publishing rights;
 
(3) reproducing, distributing, or communicating to the public through information networks, without permission of the producer of sound recordings or video recordings, the sound recordings or video recordings produced by them;
 
(4) Reproducing and distributing audio or video recordings of a performer's performance without the performer's permission, or disseminating the performance to the public through information networks;
 
(5) Producing or selling works of fine art bearing a forged signature of another person;
 
(6) Intentionally circumventing or destroying technical measures taken by copyright owners or related rights holders to protect copyright or related rights in their works, audio or video recordings, etc., without the permission of the copyright owner or related rights holder.
 
 
[1] The author's perspective
It is worth pondering that such a huge industrial chain, from recording to distribution, undoubtedly deals a heavy blow to the film industry. This act of unauthorized filming and distributing pirated films not only infringes on civil rights but may also violate criminal law, leading to criminal liability, which is also a challenge to the law.
 
But despite this, why does this “industry” continue to thrive, and why is its audience still so vast?
 
The author believes the first factor is price. Movie tickets often cost dozens of yuan, while online pirated versions cost only a few yuan or are even free. Although the viewing experience is far inferior to that of a cinema, the price advantage is clear. The second factor is convenience. Online pirated content can be watched on a mobile phone at any time and can be paused at will, whereas going to a cinema requires additional travel time and transportation costs.
 
However, such cheap and convenient pirated movies cause great harm to the film industry. Therefore, refusing to watch pirated movies must start with each individual. As viewers, we should firmly say no to pirated movies; as citizens, we should adopt comprehensive administrative, legal, and social measures to address the issue of piracy, thereby protecting the healthy development of the film industry.