Recently, a film and television company in Chengdu sued Andy Lau and the six producers of the movie "Sweeping Drugs 2" to court for infringement disputes, and proposed joint and several damages of 99.99999 million yuan. Some netizens believe that the company's claim behavior is suspected of "touching porcelain". In response to this matter, on August 12, Red Star News reporters interviewed Huang Chunhai, a lawyer at Tahota Law Firm, and Sun Haitian, a lawyer at Beijing Hande Law Firm.
Some netizens commented on the incident Weibo screenshot
Should Andy Lau become a defendant?
Director Ah Sheng said: "Perfect Lover" is a film that he is the producer, director, producer, screenwriter and starring. And "Sweeping Drugs 2" almost "completely" plagiarized "Perfect Lover" in many aspects such as character settings, narrative structure, story background, character relationships, important plots, ending expressions, character occupations, shooting performance methods, character poster design, title design, costume design, etc., and the plot is very serious and the nature is very bad. As the producer, producer and star of the seriously infringing film "Sweeping Drugs 2", and as the actual controller of the film, Andy Lau knows that he cannot infringe the copyright and other related rights of other works when shooting the film, but still commits and supports the serious illegal acts of the defendants with actual acts, and should bear the infringement liability together with other defendant companies. This situation is similar to the "Qiong Yao v. Yu Zheng" infringement case, and Yu Zheng must bear the tort liability together with several other production companies.
"Sweeping Poison 2" and "Perfect Lover" poster comparison Picture Courtesy of director A sheng
For some netizens who believe that the claim behavior of director Ah Sheng and his film and television company is suspected of "touching porcelain", lawyer Huang Chunhai said that plagiarism in the field of literature and art is very difficult to define, and the director (plaintiff) has the right to put forward such views and claims ("Sweeping Drugs 2" is suspected of plagiarism), but whether this view and proposition can be legally established and whether it can be supported by the law is another matter. The structure does not constitute plagiarism, the structure does not constitute infringement, nor is it based on the views of one party, and the law has its own judgment scale.
Because Andy Lau became the defendant, the lawsuit has attracted widespread attention. As for whether Andy Lau should become a defendant, lawyer Huang Chunhai said that if Andy Lau only participated in the creation of the alleged infringing work as an actor, it is a little controversial that the lawsuit lists him as a defendant, but it cannot be completely wrong. Andy Lau as a defendant may have this right procedurally, but from the perspective of the form of artistic creation of film, although the actor is the creator, the legal liability arising from the creation is borne by the producer, so from a personal point of view, he does not need to bear tort liability for the creation of the film, so this lawsuit may have some problems and some controversies in listing Andy Lau as a defendant.
"Sweeping Poison 2" and "Perfect Lover" compared to Tu A sheng director provided a picture
Lawyer Huang Chunhai said, "As far as the production behavior of the film itself is concerned, whether it is him (Andy Lau) as a producer, producer, actor, or a job behavior, if he personally does not directly (participate in the creation of the script), for example, if he is a screenwriter, he may have a plagiarized behavior, if he is only another artistic position, from my understanding, he does not need to bear personal responsibility." ”
What kind of movie is "Perfect Lover"?
What kind of movie is "Perfect Lover"? Red Star News reporters found that it was not released in theaters. Ah Sheng introduced that "Perfect Lover" is a film he is the producer, director, producer, screenwriter and starring, in 2006 in the country to distribute DVDs, VCD dvds, and from 2007 to 2019 in the "Youku Network" national distribution, in 2007 won the Youku network annual demand top three films, Youku network distribution version named "Spring Don't Love" (also known as: "I want to say I love you again"). On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of this film, the "Director's Cut Version" of "Perfect Lover" was released again nationwide in "Sohu Video" from the end of 2016 to 2018.
Red Star News reporters logged on to Youku and Sohu Video and found that there was no playback source, and only "Perfect Lover Piece Flower" was available for viewing on Sohu Video. Youku does not currently have any introductory information about the film.
Some netizens said that from the perspective of the claim amount of 99.99999 million yuan, the motives of the parties are still questionable. In this regard, director Ah Sheng explained, "We were originally suing 500 million. Because according to the provisions of the law and the circumstances of the defendant's particularly serious and particularly bad nature, the amount of compensation for illegal gains should be 1 to 5 times, that is, 800 million to 2 billion. Due to the jurisdiction of the court, it had to be adjusted to one yuan less than 100 million. ”
Is it difficult to identify "plagiarism"?
Sun Haitian, a lawyer at Beijing Hande Law Firm, who has been providing legal services for the film and television industry for many years, said in an interview with Red Star News that it is necessary to look at whether netizens question whether the behavior of director Ah Sheng and his company is speculation, which should be viewed in two aspects. If it is from the legal level, this is not speculation, "because as long as you think that others have copied your work, anyone has the right to sue, to exercise your rights within the legal frame, the normal litigation process must go through the trial, the first instance, the second instance can not be seen." 」 But from the social level, this is undoubtedly a kind of speculation, first of all, the plaintiff's claim amount, the high amount of 99999999 million yuan will attract the attention of the media and the public, if it is 90,000 yuan, 990,000 yuan, there may be no current exposure and attention; secondly, the listing of Andy Lau as a defendant is a kind of speculation, because a movie to sue another film, you are going to sue the copyright owner, and Andy Lau as a natural person, he is the actor of this movie, Also employed by the film party, this case is a civil lawsuit in law, the rational plaintiff will consider the amount of the claim, and Andy Lau and the film party are only labor relations, but they are listed as co-defendants, he himself is not related to copyright, but he is interested in the identity of Andy Lau's veteran artist, using the three words 'Andy Lau' to consume. ”
Is it difficult to determine "plagiarism" in such copyright disputes? How to judge whether a work involves plagiarism or not? Sun Haitian said that this should be said from three aspects, first, the public publication of the previous work, the suspected plagiarism of the work should be published publicly, and someone must know. It needs to be spread within a certain social scope so that non-specific groups can understand and see, for example, if you are simply seen by family and friends, this is not a non-specific group of people; second, the depth of the same and similar in the storyline, character relationships, etc. A single plot similarity can not simply be considered "plagiarism", different screenwriters employed by different film parties, there may still be certain coincidences in the creation, but if you are similar or the same in the plot coherence, it can be determined that you plagiarized, after all, people in different ideas, social cognition as different individuals to receive information will not be exactly the same, just like there are no two snowflakes in the world, people will not have the same fingerprints; third, to exclude reasonable creative sources. "Sweeping Drugs 2" is also a story intertwined with police and kidnappers in terms of plot and character settings, but as a common human experience that everyone can think of, the defendant needs to prove that his creation has a real source and is based, so that it cannot constitute "plagiarism".
Sun Haitian said that the basic trial limit of the court for ordinary intellectual property cases of first instance is six months, and if the case situation is more complicated, then the court can apply for an extension of the acceptance period. "However, for now, Chengdu Global Bona Culture Media Co., Ltd. will have a single litigation fee of 540,000 yuan, and if they do not come up with this fee, the court will automatically withdraw the lawsuit."
Statement by Universal Entertainment Limited
On August 12, Oneworld Entertainment Co., Ltd., one of the film's producers, issued a statement in response to the matter, saying that it had not yet received a formal notice from the court and related legal documents. At the same time, the film ("Fight Against Drugs" also known as "Sweeping Drugs 2") is an original film, and our company has obtained the authorization of three original screenwriters Mr. Qiu Litao, Miss Li Min and Mr. Li Sheng when producing the film, and Mr. Andy Lau, our company and the production unit of the film have not infringed the copyright of any third party. At present, the case has now been handed over to the full authority of the lawyers, and our company will not respond to any more. ”
Red Star News reporter | Zhang Shihao intern | Wang Zuxi
Edited | Duan Xueying
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