Honor of Kings accused of plagiarism, Tencent shifts blame trending on hot search!
[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
Case review
[2] Recently, regarding the accusation of plagiarism in the column announcement image, the design company behind Tencent Holdings' game "Honor of Kings" responded.
[3] On April 21, NetEase's game "Out of Control: The Lost Painter" called out "Honor of Kings" on its official Weibo, saying, "Last time your new product used someone else's material, you said it was the supplier's problem. Is it the same this time? With all the money you make, hire an original designer—I feel sorry for you!"
[4] That day, the topic #TheLostPainterAccusesHonorofKingsofPlagiarism# trended on Weibo.
[5] At noon on April 21, the Weibo-verified user @Quansu Network, identified as "Hangzhou Quansu Network Technology Co., Ltd.," stated on Weibo that the accused column announcement image was designed by them for "Honor of Kings" on April 14. "Our company is urgently investigating the actual circumstances of this design creation and will provide a full explanation as soon as possible," Quansu Network said.
[6] On April 22, Quansu Network issued a statement on Weibo saying that after verification, its art designers did not plagiarize third-party materials during the design creation process, and the creative ideas and inspiration were derived from and referenced promotional materials already released by "Honor of Kings."
[1] Meanwhile, Full Speed Network listed various sources of detail elements in its statement and included the overall design process.
[5] "Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China"
[2] Article 47
[3] Anyone who commits any of the following acts of infringement shall, depending on the circumstances, bear civil liability such as ceasing the infringement, eliminating the effects, making an apology, or compensating for losses:
[4] (1) publishing a work without the permission of the copyright owner;
[5] (2) publishing a work created in collaboration with others as one's own independent creation without the permission of the co-authors;
[6] (3) affixing one's name to another person's work without participating in the creation, for the purpose of seeking personal fame or gain;
(4) Distorting or tampering with others' works;
(5) Plagiarizing others' works;
(6) Using works by means of exhibition, filming, or similar methods of film production, or by adaptation, translation, annotation, etc., without permission of the copyright owner, except as otherwise provided in this Law;
(7) Using others' works without paying the remuneration that should be paid;
(8) Renting out works or audio-visual recordings without permission of the copyright owner or related rights holder of cinematographic works, works created by similar methods of film production, computer software, or audio-visual recordings, except as otherwise provided in this Law;
(9) Using the typographical design of books or periodicals published by a publisher without permission of the publisher;
(10) Without permission from the performer, live broadcasting or publicly transmitting their live performance, or recording their performance;
(11) Other acts that infringe copyright or rights related to copyright.
[1] The author's perspective
When determining plagiarism, it is often necessary to distinguish it from formally similar acts. First is the distinction between plagiarism and using the ideas, concepts, or viewpoints of a copyrighted work. Generally, it is legally permissible for an author to freely use themes, subjects, viewpoints, or ideas reflected in another work to create something new, and this is not considered plagiarism.
Second is the distinction between plagiarism and fair use. Fair use is a legal basis for an author to use another's work, with its scope generally defined by each country's copyright law. Any use beyond the scope of fair use typically constitutes infringement, but it is not necessarily plagiarism.
Finally is the distinction between plagiarism and coincidence. Copyright protects original works, not first-of-their-kind works. Similar works cannot be considered plagiarism if they are entirely independently created by the author.
Thus, plagiarism must involve a subjective intent to steal another's creativity, but since subjective intent is difficult to prove, it can only be assessed by comparing the external designs of the two works. Honor of Kings has not been accused of plagiarism for the first time. Although each accusation has been denied and then dropped, netizens have sharp eyes. Once or twice might be coincidence, but frequent similarities inevitably raise suspicion. Despite having a large player base and the backing of Tencent, Honor of Kings cannot recklessly infringe on others' rights. It is hoped that Honor of Kings will respect others' labor, so as to earn respect in return.
