Source: Urban Live Original
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When it comes to Mr. Wang Xiliang, I believe that everyone in the Jingdezhen ceramic industry knows and everyone knows. He is one of the first batch of Chinese arts and crafts masters in the mainland, enjoys the special government allowance of the State Council, and is the winner of the Chinese Ceramics Lifetime Achievement Award.
On March 13, 2023, this centenarian with both virtue and art passed away. Immediately afterwards, a large number of live broadcast rooms appeared on the Internet to sell Mr. Wang Xiliang's works, and the prices were extremely low, what is going on?
It all started in April last year. Wang Qiuxia is Wang Xiliang's youngest daughter, in April last year, a friend sent her some video links in the online live broadcast room one after another, and when she opened it, she saw that all the merchants were selling Wang Xiliang's posthumous works, and some were as low as 66 yuan.
Wang Xiliang's daughter Wang Qiuxia: There are many that are not even my father's original works, or his pictures are not his.
Wang Qiuxia has been learning art from her father's side since she was a child, and she cherishes her father's life's works. After combing, she found that there are two main types of infringement on the Internet: one is Zhang Guan Li Dai, who signs the name of his father Wang Xiliang on other people's works; Another is to use his father's paintings, but they are not painted by his father, but they are just applique products, and the other party claims that they are painted by Wang Xiliang himself.
Wang Qiuxia said that her father closed his pen as early as 2016 due to physical reasons, and he had no energy to create again after that. Many of the works sold on the Internet that claim to have been created in recent years and are hyped under the banner of "Wang Xiliang's sealed pen works" are obviously inconsistent with the facts.
At the beginning, Wang Qiuxia tried to communicate with each other through a statement, but the other party either ignored her or directly blocked her. At the end of last year, after a period of evidence collection, Wang Qiuxia sued 20 online stores to the Zhushan District People's Court of Jingdezhen City on the grounds that the other party had infringed Wang Xiliang's copyright, demanding that the defendant remove all infringing products, stop the infringement, and compensate for the corresponding losses.
After accepting the case, the Zhushan District People's Court of Jingdezhen City attached great importance to this case, and this series of cases was heard by the Jingcheng Court, a court with special jurisdiction over intellectual property.
So, what will the judge do in the face of this seemingly uncomplicated case, but in fact it involves a wide range of far-reaching effects? Due to the large number of cases, the judge decided to select one of the defendant companies to understand the situation first, hoping to resolve this series of cases through the resolution of one case. However, what is surprising is that during the investigation, the defense produced several power of attorneys to prove that his actions were not illegal.
One of the defendants, an employee of a small ceramic micro enterprise in Jingdezhen: Because we have the certificate of the supplier, I feel that they should be able to cooperate with Mr. Wang Xiliang, and they should have been licensed.
However, with regard to these power of attorneys, the plaintiff stated that because the power of attorney was extremely irregular, and some of the power of attorneys stated in the power of attorney were even after the death of Wang Qiuxia's father, Wang Xiliang, they were completely invalid. So, how did the court determine this?
Zhao Dongdong, vice president of the Zhushan District People's Court of Jingdezhen City: Regardless of whether these power of attorneys are true and valid, judging from the content of the power of attorney alone, it is only authorized to sell and exhibit Wang Xiliang's products, not to counterfeit his name.
On this basis, the judge held that such a power of attorney should be found to be invalid. The blatant sale of the so-called works of Mr. Wang Xiliang in the online live broadcast room is obviously counterfeit, which constitutes infringement. Vice President Zhao Dongdong said that this kind of behavior will bear civil liability, eliminate the impact, and apologize; In the worst case, criminal liability may also be imposed.
The city scene reporter learned that the 20 ceramic companies that became defendants this time are all small and micro enterprises, many of which are started by young people, and most of the companies are just in their infancy. After talking to the person in charge, the judge found that their legal awareness was relatively weak. However, after the judge explained the law to them, everyone was sincere.
In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the plaintiff, and at the same time to protect the development of the defendant as a small and micro enterprise as much as possible, the judge decided to adopt mediation to resolve the conflict and dispute.
Not long ago, under the auspices of the judge, the plaintiff and the defendant finally reached a settlement. So far, 19 of the 20 cases have reached mediation agreements, and one case has been closed with the store cessating the fraudulent use and making a formal apology.