On October 12, Caijing.com learned through the China Judgment Documents Network that recently, the first-instance civil judgment on copyright ownership and infringement disputes between Beijing Yancheng October Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and Beijing Jingdong Sanbailu Shidu E-commerce Co., Ltd. was announced - the first-instance judgment of the People's Court of Xicheng District, Beijing: The defendant Shanghai Jahwa United Co., Ltd. and the defendant Shanghai Gaofu Cosmetics Co., Ltd. immediately stopped infringing. The defendant, Shanghai Jahwa United Co., Ltd., stopped using the product packaging, promotional materials and promotional videos containing the infringing content, and compensated Beijing Yancheng October Culture Communication Co., Ltd. for economic losses and reasonable expenses of RMB280,000.
According to the judgment, the court held that although the external image characteristics corresponding to the character image in the movie "The Return of the Great Sage of Journey to the West" are displayed in different forms and demeanors under different scenes and different plots of the film, the characteristics of each part of it have never changed, the basic characteristics of the corresponding fine art works have not changed, and no new forms of works have been created, but still belong to the fine art works with character plastic arts formed by using lines, patterns, colors and other expression techniques, and the fine art works belong to the works that can be used alone. Guyancheng October Company has the right to file a lawsuit in this case as the copyright holder of the fine art work.
The goods involved in the case used the character images of Sun Wukong, Jiang Liu'er and Bai Long in the movie "The Return of the Great Sage of Journey to the West" on the outer packaging, the character images of Sun Wukong, Jiang Liu'er, Bai Long, Anxin, and the props Sun Wukong puppets in the promotional pages, and the character images of Sun Wukong and the chaotic humanoid in the promotional video, although they used slogans such as "wash away the mortal dust", "Hengze Proud World", "Yongrun the World", "Stick to the Heart", "Fulong Yinshui", but not the overall use of the film works of "The Return of the Great Sage of journey to the West", although they are used in conjunction with the use of slogans such as "Wash Away the Mortal Dust", "Hengze Pride", "Yongrun the World", "Stick to the Heart", and "Fulong Yinshui", but not the overall use of the film works of "The Return of the Great Sage of journey to the West", Therefore, it should still fall within the scope of protection of fine art works advocated by Yancheng in October.
Jahwa Company's use of the outer packaging, promotional pages and promotional videos of the goods involved in the case infringed the reproduction, distribution and adaptation rights of Yancheng October Company without the permission of the copyright owner. Gaofu Company is the account subject of the WeChat public account "gf Gaofu", and its use of the pictures of the products involved in the case in the published article infringed the reproduction right of Yancheng October Company.
Jahwa Company and Gaofu Company infringed the copyright of Yancheng October Company, and shall bear civil liabilities such as stopping the infringement and compensating losses according to the circumstances. This court supports Yancheng October Company's claim to stop the infringing act and Jahwa Company to stop using product packaging, promotional materials and promotional videos containing infringing content.
According to Tianyan's investigation, Beijing Yancheng October Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Gaofu Cosmetics Co., Ltd., Shanghai Jahwa United Co., Ltd. and other related copyright ownership and infringement disputes, the civil second instance trial is in the progress of the case procedure, the trial date is April 20, 2021.
Image source: Screenshot of China Judgment Documents Network
Image source: Sky Eye Check screenshot