In recent years, a number of companies have reported that they have received lawyer's letters from Sanji Company, the authorized agent of the "Mushroom Head Series" emoji package, claiming that the unauthorized use of the image of the "Mushroom Head Series" in their tweets infringes the copyright enjoyed by Guangzhou Mosquito Animation Company (hereinafter referred to as Mosquito Animation) and Sanji Company on the art works and derivative images of the "Mushroom Head Series", and shall bear the liability for infringement compensation.
The "mushroom head" series of emoji companies, which are widely loved by netizens, have been caught in a storm of public opinion for malicious rights protection. Some companies believe that the "mushroom head series" emoji is malicious rights protection, and some netizens believe that it is normal for emojis to be paid commercially, which can raise people's awareness of intellectual property protection.
On April 25, Wu Wuze, the founder of the mushroom head series of emojis and chairman of Mosquito Animation, said at a media conference that Mosquito Animation has been notarized by the Guangzhou Southern Notary Office a few days ago, and the company will open the non-commercial use of the "Mushroom Head series of emojis" for free to all online accounts, and terminate the rights protection authorization agreement of the relevant partners.
"Mushroom Head" series of emoji companies
caught in a storm of rights protection
According to media reports, a company in Nanjing used seven mushroom head emojis in WeChat tweets, all of which were downloaded from Baidu's website, and the articles were all popular science articles, all of which were used for learning and sharing, and had no profit purpose. After receiving a lawyer's letter from the authorized agency of the "Mushroom Head Series" emoji company, Sanjiyuan, the article was deleted as soon as possible. In the letter, Sanji Company demanded compensation of 49,479 yuan for economic losses and 3,260 yuan for reasonable expenses for rights protection, totaling 52,739 yuan.
In a number of infringement cases, Sanji Company asserted that the actions of the accused company violated the Copyright Law and other relevant provisions, infringed the copyright enjoyed by Mosquito Animation Company in the art works of the "Mushroom Head Series" and the derivative images created in the subsequent creation, as well as the rights enjoyed by the Company in accordance with the law in the art works of the "Mushroom Head Series", and obtained illegal profits from them, causing significant economic losses to the Company, and should bear the liability for infringement compensation.
For a time, the "Mushroom Head" series of emoji companies fell into a public opinion storm of malicious rights protection.
It is understood that on May 30, 2018, Mosquito Animation authorized the mushroom head series image and the derivative image of the subsequent creation to Sanyuan Company, and the authorization period is from June 1, 2018 to May 30, 2023. After the two parties signed the "Mushroom Head Emoji IP Rights Protection Cooperation Agreement", Sanyuan Company officially became the rights protection agency of the "Mushroom Head Series" image. The parties agreed that after the end of the contract, the agency authorization will be automatically renewed for five years, which has now taken effect.
"This kind of rights protection is not our original intention, Sanyuan Company to widely protect the rights is a serious violation of the agreement between the two parties, we have also contacted Sanyuan Company through a variety of ways since last year, we want to terminate the contract with them. However, the termination letters we sent were all returned due to the problem of the receiving address. Wu Wuze said.
At the press conference, Wu Wuze took out two statements notarized by the Guangzhou Southern Notary Office, the "Statement on the Termination of the IP Cooperation Agreement" and the "Statement on the Termination of the Authorized Agent of the Brand". According to the statement document, the authorization (if any) for the IP rights protection of mushroom head emojis (including Xiao Muer, Brother Hua, Black Charcoal Head, etc.) and the use of the copyright of all mushroom head images involved in the contract with Sanji Company will be terminated, and the brand authorization agency contract with Shenzhen Bolu Communication Co., Ltd. will be terminated.
Wu Wuze said that at present, the company is settling the liability for breach of contract of Sanji Company through legal means.
Meme Company Statement:
Non-commercial bold use, rest assured
For the relevant parties who received the rights protection warning letter, lawyer's letter, and prosecution materials from Sanji Company and the entrusted law firm, Wu Wuze said that he could directly contact Mosquito Animation in order to discuss the matter of obtaining legal authorization.
Wu Wuze also read out the "Public Statement on the Authorized Fair Use of the "Mushroom Head Emoji" Series of Works at the press conference, and gave a specific explanation of the use of the series of emojis. According to the statement, party and government organs, public institutions, etc., for the reasonable use of emoji series and other works for official business, can be used without the written authorization of the company; all self-media platforms of individuals and corporate legal persons, such as non-commercial use of emoji series works, can be used without the written authorization of the company; all enterprises, units, individuals, and organizations that need to use "mushroom head emojis" in large quantities/frequently/in batches or intend to customize emoji services can contact the company for paid permission.
Wu Wuze bluntly said that the original intention of the creation of the "Mushroom Head Series Emoji" is to "meet users in a positive, healing, optimistic and relaxed way", while malicious rights protection will be disgusting. Once a meme is "disgusting" to users, it loses its survival foundation and business prospects. Relying on malicious rights protection to generate income is a small profit, and it is even more exhaustive.
"Please rest assured that as long as everyone uses mushroom head emojis reasonably, we will never touch porcelain to defend our rights. ”
Do memes also have intellectual property rights?
According to the WeChat official account of the Yuzhong District People's Court of Chongqing, the object of protection of the Copyright Law is works, that is, intellectual achievements in the fields of literature, art and science that are original and can be expressed in a certain form. The "mushroom head" emoji is the intellectual achievement of the author's intellectual labor, which has been registered and put into use in accordance with the law, and shall be protected by law.
How to use emojis to not be infringing?
According to the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, the use of works published by others shall be subject to the permission of the copyright owner, and the use of the "mushroom head" emoji without the permission of the copyright owner may involve infringement of the copyright owner's right of authorship, reproduction, information network dissemination, modification, adaptation, etc.
In some cases, the use of a work may be carried out without the permission of the copyright owner and without payment of remuneration to the copyright owner, but the name or title of the author and the title of the work shall be indicated, and the normal use of the work shall not be affected, and the lawful rights and interests of the copyright owner shall not be reasonably harmed.
For example, the use of published works of others for personal study, research or appreciation, the translation, adaptation, compilation, broadcast or small reproduction of published works for the use of teaching or scientific research personnel, but not for publication and distribution, and the free performance of published works without charging fees to the public or paying remuneration to performers, and not for profit.
Source: Yangcheng reporter Zhang Hao Wu Shan, Chongqing Yuzhong District People's Court