[2] Guo Jingming suffered heavy losses due to plagiarism, so why does the trend of plagiarism persist?
Compiled from The Paper
Previously, the plagiarism scandals involving Guo Jingming and Yu Zheng caused a huge uproar. Not only did both lose their lawsuits, but they were also nearly blacklisted by the film and television industry, and their new productions were abruptly taken down. Yet these cautionary tales did not serve as a wake-up call for others. Instead, some “followed suit”—fully aware that plagiarism is wrong, they still could not bring themselves to give it up.
Case review
On March 28, online author Zuzhan announced that her copyright infringement lawsuit against fellow online author Jiuyuexi's novel Xiaonanfeng, which she claims plagiarizes her work Embracing You Across Time, has been filed with the Beijing Chaoyang District Court. Zuzhan is seeking an injunction against the alleged infringement, a public apology, and monetary damages. The injunction includes halting reprints of the physical book, removing the electronic version from online platforms, and ceasing all distribution. Zuzhan noted that five full years have passed since she first received a private message from a reader informing her that Embracing You Across Time might have been plagiarized by Xiaonanfeng.
At the end of 2014, she completed her novel To Embrace You Across Time, which was serialized on Jinjiang Literature City in early 2015. In October 2015, the print edition of To Embrace You Across Time was published.
In February 2016, Zu Zhan received a tip from an online friend, claiming that Jiu Yuexi's novel Xiao Nan Feng, serialized on the Jinjiang Literature Website, bore suspected similarities to Yue Guo Shi Jian Yong Bao Ni.
Due to the difficulty of organizing comparative materials and the excessively high cost of defending his rights, Zuzhan did not continue to pursue the matter and withdrew from online literature in 2017.
In 2021, the Anti-Plagiarism Fund initiated by writer Zhuang Yu was established. Subsequently, Zu Zhan contacted the fund and received financial support and legal assistance provided by the fund. This case also became the first among all the cases supported by the Anti-Plagiarism Fund to reach the litigation stage.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 217
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 via information networks, without permission of the copyright owner, their literary works, musical works, artistic works, audiovisual works, computer software, or other works as provided by laws and administrative regulations;
[2] Publishing books for which another person holds exclusive publishing rights;
[3] Reproducing, distributing, or communicating to the public via information networks, without permission of the producer of sound recordings or video recordings, the sound recordings or video recordings they have produced;
[4] Reproducing, distributing, or communicating to the public via information networks, without permission of the performer, sound recordings or video recordings containing their performance;
[5] Producing or selling artistic works 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.
[5] "Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 52[6] The following acts of infringement shall, depending on the circumstances, bear civil liability such as cessation of infringement, elimination of adverse effects, apology, and compensation for damages.
(1) Publishing the work of others without permission from the copyright owner;
(2) Publishing a work created jointly with others as one's own sole creation without permission from the co-authors;
(3) Signing one's name on another person's work without participating in its creation, for the purpose of seeking personal fame or profit;
(4) Distorting or tampering with the works of others;
(5) Plagiarizing the works of others;
(6) Using a work by means of exhibition, filming an audiovisual work, or adapting, translating, annotating, or otherwise using it without permission from the copyright owner, except where otherwise provided by this law.
(7) Using another person's work without paying the remuneration that should be paid;
(8) Renting the original or copies of a work or audio/video recording without permission from the copyright owner, performer, or producer of audio/video recordings of audiovisual works, computer software, or audio/video recordings, except as otherwise provided in this Law;
(9) Using the typographical design of a book or periodical published by a publisher without the publisher's permission;
(10) Live broadcasting or publicly transmitting a live performance, or recording the performance, without permission from the performer;
(11) Other acts of infringing copyright and rights related to copyright.
Article 53The following infringements shall, depending on the circumstances, bear the civil liability as provided in Article 52 of this Law; if the infringement also harms the public interest, the copyright administrative department shall order the cessation of the infringement, issue a warning, confiscate illegal gains, and confiscate, destroy, or render harmless the infringing copies and the materials, tools, equipment, etc., mainly used for making such copies. If the illegal business turnover is 50,000 yuan or more, a fine of not less than one time but not more than five times the illegal business turnover may be imposed concurrently; if there is no illegal business turnover, the illegal business turnover is difficult to calculate, or it is less than 50,000 yuan, a fine of not more than 250,000 yuan may be imposed; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued according to law:
(1) Reproducing, distributing, performing, screening, broadcasting, compiling, or communicating to the public via information networks a work without the permission of the copyright owner, except as otherwise provided in this Law;
(2) publishing books for which another person has exclusive publishing rights;
(3) Reproducing or distributing sound recordings or video recordings of a performance, or communicating the performance to the public via information networks without the permission of the performer, except as otherwise provided in this Law;
(4) Reproducing, distributing, or communicating to the public via information networks sound recordings or video recordings produced by the producer without the permission of the producer, except as otherwise provided in this Law;
(5) Broadcasting, reproducing, or communicating to the public via information networks a broadcast or television program without permission, except as otherwise provided in this Law;
(6) Intentionally circumventing or destroying technological measures without the permission of the copyright owner or related rights holder, intentionally manufacturing, importing, or providing to others devices or components mainly used for circumventing or destroying technological measures, or intentionally providing technical services to others for circumventing or destroying technological measures, except as otherwise provided by laws or administrative regulations;
(7) Except as otherwise provided by laws or administrative regulations, intentionally deleting or altering rights management information on works, layout designs, performances, audio-visual recordings, or broadcasts without permission from the copyright owner or related rights holders, or knowingly or having reason to know that such rights management information has been deleted or altered without permission, and still providing the works to the public;
(8) Producing or selling works falsely attributed to others.
[1] The author's perspective
Plagiarism or copying among online novels has become commonplace. Here, plagiarism refers to the act of taking someone else's work as one's own, completely copying it under the same usage, or altering its form or content to some extent. Clearly, this is a serious infringement of copyright, but in current copyright trial practice, it is relatively difficult to define. In China's judicial practice, the specific criteria for determining plagiarism or copying mainly focus on the following four points:
1. Before and after the work's publication date;
2. Whether the work is original;
3. Whether the objective conditions for plagiarism or copying exist, such as: whether there was any possibility of access to another person’s work;
4. Whether the features of the works (such as characters, main plot, thematic ideas, details, etc.) are identical.
When Jiuyuexi's film Better Days was released, she was questioned by netizens for plagiarism and "idea fusion." At that time, Jiuyuexi also seized on the ambiguous definition standards in judicial practice, so she consistently stated that "there is no unified standard, and it has gradually evolved into something of 'inner conviction.'"
One more point worth noting in this case——the Anti-Plagiarism Fund. The establishment of this foundation represents not only online writers' resistance to plagiarism but also the legal community's condemnation of such egregious conduct. Whether it was the earlier plagiarism case of Guo Jingming or the plagiarism by Yu Zheng, both were ultimately ruled by the courts as copyright infringement. Yet after these rulings, the tide of plagiarism did not subside; instead, it became increasingly common, and in more serious cases, may even involve criminal offenses. Therefore, we must remain highly vigilant against plagiarism and must take this issue seriously. Judicial practice needs to promptly establish evaluation standards, which should then be formulated into laws and regulations for unified enforcement. We cannot continue to blur the lines. Through the judicial adjudication of each individual case, we can advance the clarification of the boundaries of plagiarism and provide guidance for similar cases in the future. Only in this way can judicial fairness be achieved. This is not only for the improvement of the legal system but also for the preservation of a healthy environment for literary creation.
