Anti-gang campaign fails and backfires; "storm" turns into plagiarism.
[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
Case review
[5] Not long ago, a photographer from Anhui revealed that two clips from a time-lapse video he shot last year appeared in the opening credits of the hit drama "Crime Crackdown," but he was completely unaware of it. In response, the post-production producer of "Crime Crackdown" stated that the opening and closing credits were commissioned to a third-party production company. If infringement is involved, the company will coordinate with the photographer to resolve the matter.
[6] Beijing Zhengtong Yihe Culture Exchange Co., Ltd., responsible for the opening and closing credits of "Crime Crackdown," responded that the company purchased the footage from VJshi website on July 21 this year. After the rights claimant raised concerns, the company immediately contacted them and their legal representative to explain the purchase channel and source. Additionally, the company stated that it would quickly produce a replacement opening sequence and communicate with the production team to replace it as soon as possible.
[1] VJshi.com issued an apology statement on the evening of September 2, stating that after investigation, contributor Gao provided non-original works, and his account has been banned and cooperation terminated. According to information provided by VJshi.com, the site is a platform for trading original video materials, with over 30,000 real-name contributors. Gao was also a real-name contributor cooperating with the site, and when signing cooperation agreements, all contributors promise their works are original, with legal and economic responsibilities arising from infringement borne by the contributor.
[2] Article 1185 of the Civil Code
[3] If someone intentionally infringes upon another's intellectual property rights under serious circumstances, the infringed party has the right to request corresponding punitive damages.
[1] The author's perspective
[4] In recent years, people have increasingly valued the protection of intellectual property rights, and infringement cases have risen year by year. This article will not reiterate copyright issues but will analyze: what is punitive damages?
[5] Punitive damages, also known as exemplary damages, is a principle of aggravated compensation. The infringer must not only compensate for the losses of the infringed party (compensatory damages) but also be penalized (punitive damages, generally determined at 1 to 3 times the amount of compensation), to achieve the purpose of deterrence.
[6] Punitive damages represent a major change in intellectual property protection under the Civil Code. In the field of intellectual property, there are two conditions for punitive damages: first, the subjective act must be intentional, i.e., malicious; second, the consequences must be serious, and only then does the infringed party have the right to request punitive damages.
In this case, Gao, who first uploaded the video, used someone else's work without permission, constituting copyright infringement. This shows that Gao had subjective intent to plagiarize, i.e., Gao acted in bad faith. Secondly, "The Storm" is a recently popular TV series. Once the plagiarism controversy emerged, public opinion was in an uproar, with some netizens even calling for a boycott of the show, indicating an extremely negative impact. Based on the current situation, VJshi.com sold the video to the production company, which obtained it and used it in the opening credits of "The Storm." The author believes that both VJshi.com and the opening credits production company are suspected of indirectly infringing others' copyrights and should bear joint infringement liability with the contributor Gao. As for how to allocate the infringement liability among these three parties, it should be determined according to the content of their respective contracts.
