Industry insiders commented on Lin Peiyuan's apology letter: entertainment star apology expanded version

After 13 years, young novelist Lin Peiyuan apologized to the writer Mo Yin and admitted to the incident of plagiarism. Columnist and veteran cultural commentator Han Haoyue told Beijing Youth Daily that he had read Mr. Lin's "Apology Letter." "I think that although he has a clear apology in the title of this letter, the entire content of the apology letter is long and too many words, which dilutes his sincerity in apologizing." Han Haoyue said that in fact, there is no need to write so much, I feel that I made a mistake when I was young, plagiarism is plagiarism, mistake is wrong, simple and crisp apology is much more effective than this kind of long talk.

Han Haoyue pointed out that carefully reading Lin Peiyuan's "Apology Letter", I feel that it is actually an expanded version of the apology of entertainment industry stars. "Entertainment industry stars apologize is also good at taking this set of sensational routes, taking care of him left and right, and then seemingly apologizing, and then through apologies to get a round of marketing and win a new wave of fans." But this method appears in the writer, one is confusing, it will make the writer's fans, and people who do not know the writer, have a new and inexplicable appreciation attitude towards him. Han Haoyue believes that this is actually a routine of whitewashing. He felt that writers, especially those with a reflective spirit, encountered when they were accused of plagiarism and accusations. Aside from frank admission, there's no need to defend yourself through a wrapping around the way you do with entertainment stars.

The market has left plenty of room to survive without apologizing

It is worth mentioning that in the literary and art circles, in addition to Lin Peiyuan's apology to Moyin, there is also Yu Zheng's apology to Qiong Yao on the last day of 2020, and Guo Jingming's apology to Zhuang Yu. They all have one thing in common, that is, they all involve plagiarism of the original author's literary works, and they all apologize years after the incident.

For this phenomenon, Han Haoyue believes that from the current point of view, these plagiarists are successful people in the literary and art circles. That means how do successful people view the mistakes they have made before? "The reason why they are reluctant to apologize is because the market has left them enough space to survive without apologizing." That is to say, our entire literary and art circle environment does not apologize for plagiarism, in fact, there is enough tolerance and patience, that is, if you do not apologize, you can still live very well. Han Haoyue said that for people who have made plagiarism mistakes, if there is little difference between apologizing and not apologizing, they will of course choose not to apologize.

Young writers are prone to plagiarism because their works are created for sales purposes

So why is there so much plagiarism in the younger generation of writers? Han Haoyue said that in fact, there are also a group of writers and scholars who are older, but they are relatively few. Older writers still feel a strong sense of shame about plagiarism.

In his view, the reason why the phenomenon of plagiarism by the younger generation of writers has increased is probably because of the emergence of new communication media, which has led to an increase in the demand for new content. Especially after they market-oriented literary works, they also need FMCG-like literary works to sell. That is to say, the works of their generation of writers are more for the purpose of sales than from the instinct of creation. So I think it's still the atmosphere of a writer's commercialization of stars that has led to this situation. ”

The literary circle has not yet learned to look at the plagiarism chaos frankly, and not expressing criticism of the plagiarists has actually lost its position and principles

Regarding the current situation in which the literary circle has an indifferent attitude towards the phenomenon of plagiarism, Han Haoyue believes that it is related to the following situations: First of all, the above-mentioned plagiarists have indeed given him a position and space in the past period of time. "I think probably people in the literary world are reluctant to admit that they promoted his work. It seems that admitting Lin Peiyuan's plagiarism is equivalent to cultivating his own vision of literary talents. In fact, there is no need for this, he copied and copied, and later things were well written and written well, which should be read in two. Han Haoyue said that people in the literary circle have not actually learned how to look at this problem frankly, his plagiarism is a problem before, if there is no plagiarism later, it means that he has reformed. So the editors who edited and distributed his articles, as well as the journal publishers who helped him launch his work, didn't have to be bothered by the plagiarism.

Han Haoyue also pointed out that the internal reasons for the silence of the literary circle for plagiarists and the silence of the entertainment industry for rollover stars are the same. So the plagiarists and this circle have developed a very close and complex connection. "Whether it is hindered by affection or some relationships, not expressing criticism of plagiarists is actually a loss of position and principle."

Society should provide a platform for the plagiarized to speak out and defend their rights

How to solve these plagiarism chaos in the literary circle? In Han Haoyue's view, there are many ways to solve plagiarism, including some media that if the author of the work is found to be plagiarized, his work will never be accepted. As long as this principle and standard is implemented, then some creators will consciously reject plagiarism when they see such a statement. Especially for some well-known publishing houses, this standard should be formulated and implemented to the end.

"In addition, a data comparison library of literary works can be established, just like the paper comparison, the journal editor can enter the chapters in the library for comparison before reading a literary manuscript." See if there are some clumsy plagiarism, such as rewriting other people's works paragraph by paragraph, or even not rewriting, directly copying them, and turning other people's works into their own works. Han Haoyue said that through this simple comparison method, most of the plagiarism can be turned away.

It should be pointed out that society should provide a platform for authors who find that their works have been copied. It is to make the plagiarized people more courageous and not afraid of trouble to defend their rights. "There's a weird thing right now that plagiarists and their fans tend to be justified. The original authors who affirmed their rights became the targets of internet violence. Han Haoyue said that this situation should be fundamentally improved, otherwise many people have been copied and have chosen to swallow their voices and not to make a sound, which will not fundamentally help the improvement of the entire environment.

In addition, some organizations and management bodies of writers should also make a clear statement on plagiarism, such as formulating some punitive measures according to the number and severity of mistakes made by plagiarists, such as dissuading members, or expelling members and other such punitive measures, so that plagiarists can have a sense of awe and actively refuse plagiarism.

Lawyers said: The infringement of people apologizes for many years because of the pressure of public opinion and morality

For Lin Peiyuan's "Apology Letter", what is mentioned is only a story structure borrowed from the silent novel, rather than a simple transcription of the text. In the view of Tang Boyu, the lawyer representing the writer Zhuang Yu, from the legal point of view, whether a work is plagiarized, to determine whether the work constitutes substantial similarity, it will be comprehensively determined from many aspects such as lines, narration, character settings, character relationships, logical arrangement of specific plots, and special detail design. In addition, it is necessary to see whether there are errors in the same grammatical expression, logical relationship, historical facts, etc.

"The ideological content of the novel's plot framework is more biased towards the character settings, character relationships, logical arrangement of specific plots, and special detailed design that I just said, which are the key censorship content in the process of determining plagiarism." Tang Boyu said that as for the extent of borrowing and whether it constitutes substantial similarity, it is necessary to analyze the specific situation.

In Tang Boyu's view, mainland law has provisions on civil liability of "apologizing for the crime" of plagiarizing other people's works and apologizing for many years, and if the infringer does not implement the court judgment after losing the lawsuit, the infringed party can also apply for compulsory enforcement, and the court will force the court to publish a report for an apology.

From this point of view, the relevant laws and regulations on the mainland are still relatively perfect. "As for the increasing number of infringers apologizing to copyright owners after many years in the past two years, I think it is more forced by the pressure of public opinion and morality." In Tang Boyu's view, this shows that the awareness of the people on the mainland to respect and protect intellectual property rights is constantly improving. Therefore, he believes that while strengthening the judicial protection of intellectual property rights, it is also an important part of intellectual property protection to increase the publicity of intellectual property protection.

Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Zhang Enjie