introduction
With its diverse content, short and concise, and highly entertaining, short video has become an indispensable leisure and entertainment method for the public, and has also contributed the main time and traffic increment to major platforms. With the theme of "XX takes you to watch TV series", "XX famous scene inventory" and "watch a movie in three minutes", on the surface, in the name of introducing and commenting on the plot, in fact, they reorganize, splic, and process popular TV series, variety shows, and cinema movies into new short videos to win traffic. As everyone knows, there is a risk of infringement in the remixed videos released by these "scissorhands" UP owners.
Basic facts of the case
"Splendid Weiyang" is a costume drama starring actors Tang Yan, Luo Jin, Wu Jianhao, Mao Xiaotong and others, which premiered on Beijing Satellite TV and Dragon TV on November 11, 2016. The plaintiffs, Shenzhen Tencent, Beijing Tencent, and Tianjin Tencent, are authorized by the copyright owner of "Splendid Weiyang" to enjoy the non-exclusive right of information network dissemination and rights protection of "Splendid Weiyang" in accordance with the law.
The picture comes from the Internet
The plaintiff found that a video playback account with 44,000 followers on a certain website had posted a total of 246 video clips and cut videos of the episode "Splendid Future". Each video is about a few dozen seconds to 3 minutes long, with titles that can summarize the content of the video series, such as "Splendid Weiyang: Li Weiyang overheard the words of the crown princess and the prince, and he didn't dare to go in to visit the patient". According to the platform's disclosure, the subject of the infringing video account is Dai Moumou. The plaintiff sued the court for Dai Moumou's behavior to infringe on his legitimate rights and interests in copyright, requesting that the defendant Dai Moumou be ordered to stop the infringement and compensate for losses.
Adjudication Results
After trial, the Tongzhou Bay Demonstration District Court held that the plaintiff was authorized by the copyright owner of "Splendid Weiyang" and enjoyed the right to disseminate information on the network and the right to defend rights in accordance with the law. Without the permission of the original copyright owner of "Splendid Weiyang" and the plaintiff, the defendant Dai Moumou slipped the original video without authorization and provided the "Splendid Weiyang" TV series on the online platform in the form of "short video + title summary" for the public to click and watch, infringing on the plaintiff's right to disseminate information on the network of "Splendid Weiyang", and should bear legal responsibility such as stopping the infringement and compensating for economic losses. Comprehensively consider factors such as the originality, difficulty of creation, popularity, market value, and expected market returns of the works involved in the case, as well as the subjective purpose, nature, duration, and harmful consequences of the infringing acts, and take into account the development situation and characteristics of the Internet television industry. In the end, the defendant Dai Moumou was ordered to stop the infringement and compensate the plaintiff for various losses and reasonable expenses incurred to stop the infringement totaling 50,000 yuan.
What the judge said
Since 2018, the mainland has strictly prohibited the infringement of editing, cutting, moving, and disseminating film and television works by carrying out the "Sword Network" special action, issuing the "Joint Statement", and issuing the "Detailed Rules for the Review Standards for Online Short Video Content". What are the types of prohibited infringing film and television clips? How can short video creators legally use film and television resources?
Question 1: What kind of short film and television clips are released without permission and will cause infringement?
1. Pure editing short videos, that is, by cutting films, TV dramas and other film and television works, simply retaining specific plots in film and television works to form multiple short videos, restoring the story development context, plot, and character relationships of film and television, constituting a substantial replacement for the original work, and such short videos will infringe on the information network dissemination rights of the original work.
2. Short video commentary on film and television, that is, inventory, overview, and comment on specific film and television works, and create commentary words according to their own subjective feelings and opinions, and comment on the classic clips in film and television works. Such short videos may also infringe the information network dissemination rights of the original work because they contain part of the original film and television work's original expression.
3. Film and television mixed editing short videos, that is, the creator intercepts multiple film and television work clips and combines them for processing, integrates the creator's unique ideas, and combines and processes them into new stories. Such short videos often do not substantially replace the original work, but may distort or tamper with the original plot and character settings, so they may infringe on the right to protect the integrity of the work, the right to adapt, etc.
It is worth emphasizing that the length of the video is not a key factor affecting the determination of whether there is infringement, even if each short video is only a few minutes or even tens of seconds long, as long as the content of the short video contains the main plot of the original film and television work, it is a reproduction and reproduction of the original film and television work, which constitutes an infringement of the right holder's right to disseminate information on the film and television work on the Internet.
Question 2: How to use film and television works without infringement?
1. Pay before you use. Pay the copyright fee to the right holder, and use it legally after obtaining the authorization of the copyright owner.
2. Fair use. Article 24 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China lists 12 specific circumstances of "fair use", and when a fragment of a published film or television work is quoted within a reasonable limit in accordance with this provision, and the short video is not enough to replace the original film or television work, the copyright owner may not be allowed to obtain permission and not pay remuneration to him, but the name of the author and the title of the work shall be indicated, and other rights enjoyed by the copyright owner in accordance with the law shall not be infringed.
Q3: How can I determine whether it is "fair use"?
In judicial practice, it is often considered whether film and television clips constitute fair use from the following three aspects: first, the purpose of use, that is, whether the purpose of citation is included in the items listed in the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, and whether it is appropriately cited in the work for the purpose of introduction, comment or explanation; second, look at the means of use, the proportion of citations and whether there is a necessity for citations, and the degree of integration between the cited part and the secondary work; Third, look at the effect of use, whether it will produce the effect of replacing the original work, thereby causing damage to the legitimate rights and interests of the right holder.
The happy "demolition" drama was cool for a while, and the infringement compensation shed tears. While sharing the joy of chasing dramas on video platforms, short video creators should also enhance their awareness of intellectual property protection, firmly respect the bottom line of originality, create more in-depth and attractive short videos, and promote the diversified and prosperous development of the cultural industry.
Source: Tongzhou Bay Demonstration District Court
编辑：Sharon