Foot massage and movie watching, two formats that seem to be completely unrelated, have now become "good partners" and set off a wave of "cinema-style footpaths". Only searching for "cinema-style footpaths" in Beijing on Dianping, dozens of stores and hundreds of service packages of information came in an instant, attracting many consumers to experience. However, the Beijing Business Daily reporter's investigation found that the so-called "cinema-style footpath" of many stores only costs hundreds of yuan to thousands of yuan at prices ranging from hundreds of yuan to thousands of yuan, installing a small projector or buying a TV box in the room, without the permission of the film and television copyright owner, it is directly broadcast for the purpose of making a profit, and in the opinion of the lawyer, this behavior has been suspected of infringing the due rights and interests of the copyright owner.
Shop: A few hundred yuan to buy a TV box can be used as a movie hall
In the fast-paced life, foot massage and movie watching are people's leisure and relaxation choices, but what is different from the past is that the leisure projects that can only be carried out in two spaces are now combined into one, with a "cinema-style foot path", which has become one of the new services provided by the current foot massage shop to consumers.
With "movie + foot road" as the keyword to search for public reviews, in the Beijing area alone, there are dozens of massage shops in the search results, and according to the experience time, different items, and the above stores launched hundreds of service packages for consumers to choose, and in order to be able to launch the "cinema foot" project, massage shops choose a variety of ways.
The Beijing Business Daily reporter's investigation found that in addition to a small number of massage shops choosing to cooperate with on-demand theaters and related theaters to play film and television works, more "cinema-style footpath" massage shops directly do it themselves, or buy small projectors from the Internet, TV sets that can achieve screen projection, cast the film and television works selected by consumers in the mobile app, or purchase and install TV boxes and other related equipment to achieve the playback of film and television works in the house.
"Now the store has made two single rooms into a space that can both watch movies and enjoy massage at the same time, and the decoration in the house has not changed much, that is, each room spent three or four hundred yuan to buy a TV box, and then equipped with a TV of about 1,000 yuan, and the combined cost of the two single rooms is about 3,000 yuan." Ms. Tian, the director of a massage shop, said so.
Another massage shop located in Haidian District also chose to assemble the viewing equipment by itself, according to the staff of the store, the store only installed a TV that can cast the screen in the house, and a small number of film and television works have been downloaded from the work mobile phone prepared in the store, and there are also video Apps, consumers can directly choose the works they want to see after arriving at the store.
It is worth noting that due to the combination of movie watching and foot therapy, the experience price of the project is also more expensive than ordinary foot therapy, mostly between 150-400 yuan, and there are higher prices. Ms. Tian said that after all, the content of the experience has increased, coupled with the fact that the project experience time is not like ordinary foot therapy can be 30 minutes, 40 minutes, while watching the movie, the foot therapy is basically from 60 minutes, 90 minutes, 120 minutes, the price is naturally high, "so although I spent more money to match the equipment before, I will not worry about not being able to recover the cost."
Lawyer: Unauthorized broadcasting of film and television works is suspected of infringement
The function of watching movies has been increased, and the foot massage shop has also gained a wave of attention, and some consumers have rushed to experience the "cinema-style footpath". However, just when many foot massage shops have attracted customers with "cinema-style footpath" as a signboard, they did not realize that their practices have been suspected of infringing the legitimate rights and interests of film and television copyright owners.
"If the authorization of the film and television copyright holder is not obtained, the foot massage shop privately broadcasts the film and television works to consumers for the purpose of making a profit, and the behavior of the in-store experience project is suspected of infringement." Zhao Hu, a partner at Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm, said that this is like when publicly playing background music in a commercial space, if the music work is publicly performed and used without the permission of the right holder, it will constitute infringement, and the suspected infringement of the foot massage parlor is similar to that, and the permission of the right holder must also be obtained.
For the infringement involved in the act, some of the operators of the foot massage shop are not satisfied, Ms. Tian said, "I have purchased a TV box, and in order to watch more film and television works, I have also opened a VIP, which means that I can already play these film and television works at will, without involving copyright issues."
In this regard, Zhao Hu analyzed that video website VIPs, TV box VIPs, etc., are services provided to individual or family users, so as to meet the needs of users, rather than for merchants to play to customers for profit, these two behaviors can not be confused. Therefore, even if the foot massage shop purchases a VIP, it does not mean that it has obtained the authorization of the film and television copyright owner.
The Beijing Business Daily reporter noted that before the domestic foot massage shop sat in the defendant's seat because it was not authorized to publicly broadcast film and television works to consumers, and finally compensated the film and television copyright holders. Among them, a number of foot bath shops in Dongyang City have been sued for infringement of the right to disseminate the information network of works, and the above foot bath shops also claimed that they purchased a third-party playback system and used the films brought with the system to play to customers, there was no infringement, but the court trial said, "After the foot bath shop operators purchase the third-party system, they often only purchase the system itself, and do not include the authorized use costs of the films carried by the system." In addition, the third-party system manufacturer itself does not have to pay the corresponding fees to the copyright owner. Therefore, the video on-demand service provided by the foot bath shop infringes the copyright of others, and it shall bear the corresponding civil liability according to law."
Service model has room for development Legal and compliant operation is a necessary condition
Although many of the current "cinema-style footpaths" are suspected of infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of film and television copyright holders in the services provided by consumers, if this service model is viewed alone, if the services can be provided in a legal and compliant manner, it is also a new development channel, further tapping the needs of consumers, and bringing greater development space to both industries.
"Usually do pedicure is simply leaning on the sofa, playing with mobile phones, chatting with friends, although relaxing the body, but also inevitably feel a little bored for tens of minutes." If you can do a foot massage while watching the movie, you can have a variety of enjoyment at the same time, and the experience will be immediately different. Consumer Ms. Yan said.
Consumers' preference for "cinema-style footpaths" has also received feedback from the actual operation of massage parlors. The staff of a massage shop in Haidian District said that because there are not many rooms in the store, only a single room has been set up for both viewing and massage, and many consumers are willing to come to this room, especially relatively young consumers, who will make an appointment in advance to grab the room to avoid the room being occupied after coming to the store.
Zhao Hu believes that the service method of "cinema-style footpathy" is not impossible, but should be carried out under the condition of legal compliance, and must not be used to meet the profit-making purposes of the operator by infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of the right holder, and it is necessary to sign an authorization license with the copyright owner before launching the service.
In the view of film critic Liu He, in recent years, whether it is the adjustment within the industry or the changes in the external objective environment, the film and television industry has borne the impact, and the previous closure of offline theaters has also made many works fail to meet the market feedback previously expected, if a new service model can be opened up, it is also a new window for the film and television industry, docking new cooperation objects and markets, not only to achieve the dissemination of related works in a wider range of scenarios, but also expected to bring more benefits.
Beijing Business Daily Boiling Point Investigation Team