Source 丨 Entertainment Business Observation Wen 丨 Ke Ming
Verdict!
After two years, Jin Yong's lawsuit against Yang Zhi (Jiangnan) for infringement of "The Boy Here" was finally pronounced. In the end, Jin Yong won the lawsuit, and the defendant Yang Zhi would compensate Jin Yong for economic losses of 1.68 million yuan and reasonable expenses of 200,000 yuan to stop the infringement.
The court also gave a complete explanation of whether "The Boy Here" infringed Jin Yong's copyright. The court held that the character relationship and storyline of the work did not resemble the original work, but only borrowed the names of the original characters, so it did not constitute copyright infringement, and it could not be said to be plagiarism. However, "The Boy Here" used the appeal of Jin Yong's works to increase the attention of its own works, and the huge circulation of publications and circulation obtained profits, constituting unfair competition.
This case is known as the "first case of fanworks", and at the moment when the fanworks were in full swing, the verdict undoubtedly poured a basin of cold water on it, allowing the fandom, which has always been in the gray area on the edge of the law, to enter the field of legal judgment.
This case also sounded the alarm for later fandom creations, even if the work did not rise to copyright infringement, unfair competition may become the original sin of fandom creation.
The direct impact of this case is reflected in the fact that the prospects for the commercialization of fan works will be greatly reduced, and a large number of fandom websites will be removed from the shelves to avoid infringement.
Jin Yong sued Gangnam
The case of "The Boy Here" begins and ends
"The Boy Here" is a famous work by writer Jiangnan, written in 2001, telling the campus story of Guo Jing, Huang Rong, Qiao Feng, Ling Huchong and other heroes in Beijing University, which was originally just an improvisational work of Jiangnan recalling the time of Peking University, and did not expect to become a hit.
"The Boy Here" was adapted into a movie in 2010, and the reputation was not bad, with a score of 7.5 on Douban, when the creators were not aware of the infringement. The rights to the TV series were bought by Great Aim, and the 2014 report was filed for filming, but it was not really filmed.
Due to the similarity between the names of the characters and the popularity of "The Boy Here", Gangnam and "The Boy Here" have entered a long lawsuit storm.
On October 11, 2016, Jin Yong formally took Jiangnan to court, suing Jiangnan and its publishing company for infringement, demanding that "the infringement of the plaintiff's copyright and unfair competition be stopped immediately, the reproduction and distribution of the novel "The Boy Here", and the sealing and destruction of inventory books" be stopped.
On April 25, 2017, the case was heard at the Tianhe Court of Guangzhou City, known as the "first case of fanwork". The question of whether to infringe on fan fiction has also sparked discussions.
On August 16, 2018, the court of first instance pronounced that "The Boy Here" constituted unfair competition, holding that "The Boy Here" did not base the plot on Jin Yong's works, did not infringe Jin Yong's right to adapt, authorship, and protect the integrity of the work, but had a competitive relationship with Jin Yong in the field of book publishing and planning distribution, violating China's Anti-Unfair Competition Law.
Jiang Nan then also issued a statement, accepting the court's judgment, and saying that "because of its name and profit, there should be such a disaster", and it is indeed not a pleasant thing to fight a lawsuit with an idol, and Jiang Nan paid the tuition fee for this, so it should be reasonable and there should be no complaints.
"The First Case of Fanwork"
Is there a big blow to online text platforms and the film and television industry?
Fan fiction refers to a novel that uses elements such as characters, storylines, or background settings from original comics, anime, novels, and film and television works. Generally, online novels are used as carriers, and writers are mostly fans of the original works, and there are many studies on the original works.
The character names in "The Boy Here" are all well-known heroes in Jin Yong's martial arts novels, which are considered to be fan novels, and the author Jiang Nan also claims to be a Fan of Jin Yong, just wanting to use the characters to return to the campus of Peking University.
In any case, the "First Case of Fan Works" for the first time set a legal standard for fan works, and first of all, it can be clear that fandom novels that only borrow the names of characters and places in the original novel, and do not have similarities in plot, are not considered plagiarism and do not constitute copyright infringement.
However, once the profit is huge and the economic rights and interests of the original author are damaged, it may lead to unfair competition. In this way, the fan-pay channels of some online text platforms may suffer, and a large number of fan-made works will inevitably be removed.
But in general, this case will not have a great blow to the online text platform, on the one hand, the fan fiction is not the mainstream of the online text platform, even if this piece is cut, the online text platform will not be too damaged. Reading Group, the largest online platform in China, its starting point Chinese network has taken the fandom as a secondary directory, not appearing on the home page, but becoming a "derivative fan" under the "second dimension", and in the creation of the Chinese network, red sleeves Tianxiang, Xiaoxiang Academy and other platforms are not seen in the same person, in the final analysis, fantasy, romance is the main body of the online text market, the same person is difficult to board the lobby.
On the other hand, the influence of fan works is limited and the profitability is weak, which may just be a self-amusement of a rice circle, and it is difficult to become a big IP. Like "The Boy Here", it is only catching up with the rise of online literature, and its success is not replicable.
So what impact does this case have on fandom films and television works? At present, there are almost no fandom film and television works to be broadcast. Of course, if you count the movie "Love Apartment", it is also close to the creation of fandom, but as you see, this attempt has been scolded out of the sky, which shows that fandom film and television creation is not pleasing.
Moreover, film and television companies are particularly cautious about IP procurement, and copyright awareness is also paying more attention, preferring to spend more money to buy original IP, avoid future infringement entanglements, and do not easily get involved in infringement lawsuits. And fan works are born with secondary creative attributes, not as pure as the original, adapting film and television is like walking on thin ice, thankless, generally speaking, film and television companies are reluctant to take this risk.
Where is the degree of fandom?
Creators should be wary of "free riding"
However, this case has sounded the alarm bell for fan creators, creative freedom should be measured, and creators should be wary of unfair competition such as "free riding" and "taking advantage of the situation" publicity.
Where is the degree of fandom? There are two types of fandom works that will not be greatly affected, one is the self-hi of the same humanities between fans, usually seen in Tieba, fan circles, online platforms, the circle is niche, does not have high visibility, is only the product of the fandom self-entertainment, this kind of fandom returns to interest in writing, rather than for profit, is conducive to the exchange and cohesion between fans.
The second is the same humanities that have obtained the author's permission to create, and the original author's platform provides legitimacy for the creation of fandom. For example, the author of "Notes on the Tomb Robbery", the third uncle of the Southern Sect, publicly welcomed the creation of fandom, so for a time Wu Xie and the brother's same humanities flew all over the sky. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is also based on Harry Potter, with the permission of Rowling.
Of course, since you have the ability to structure the story, if the name is the same as the original protagonist, in fact, you can completely change the name to be original to avoid unnecessary infringement suspicions.
Fan works have enriched literary creation and prospered the online literature market to a certain extent, but once this case comes out, it is undoubtedly a big blow to the commercialization of fan works, and it has a warning effect on fan creators, but compared with the previous rules, this case at least clarifies the bottom line of fan works creation. As long as you don't step on this red line, there is still room for fanworks to continue to survive.
Original title: Jin Yong sued Jiangnan "The Boy Here" was awarded 1.88 million yuan, and the commercialization of fan works stopped?
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