Is it infringing for apps such as "dubbing shows" to use other people's film and television dramas? The Beijing Internet Court responded

Beijing, April 21 (Reporter Sun Ying) According to the China Central Radio and Television Corporation's Voice of China "News Horizontal" report, world intellectual property day (April 26) is coming, beijing Internet Court released news on April 20, last year the court accepted a total of 28,946 copyright cases, of which 99% are related to the right to disseminate information networks, involving types of works including photography, art, audio-visual, text, music, etc.

In trial practice, should chat emoticons and red envelopes, ai-powered content, and live sports event screens be identified as "works" within the meaning of the Copyright Law? Is it an infringement for apps such as "dubbing shows", "listening to music and recognizing dramas", and "illustrated movies" to use other people's film and television dramas? The Beijing Internet Court responded separately.

With the application and deepening of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing, artificial intelligence has continuously intervened in the use of algorithms and big data analysis, and even partially replaced human creative behavior. Film Law Firm published a judicial big data analysis report on the film and television entertainment industry on its own WeChat public account, which was released the next day after the Baijia platform deleted the signature and introduction. After being prosecuted, the Baijia operators replied that the data and charts in the report were automatically generated by the analysis software, and the articles involved in the case were not obtained by the law firm through their own intellectual labor creations and were not protected by the Copyright Law.

Does the content generated by computer software constitute a work and how is it protected? For the first time, the Beijing Internet Court responded judicially. Zhao Ruigang, vice president of the Beijing Internet Court, said: "Our court has determined that although the content generated by the software involved in the case does not constitute a work under the current legal system, the content condenses the exploration and investment of software users, and in order to promote information dissemination and cultural prosperity, software users should be given corresponding rights and interests." The judgment in this case embodies the judicial concept of protecting the achievements of innovation and promotes high-quality economic development by encouraging technological innovation. ”

The emergence of dubbing software has fulfilled the "actor's dream" of many people, and even enhanced the interest of some students in learning foreign languages, while in trial practice, network users use existing works in fragments and interceptions for secondary creation and dissemination, causing a large number of copyright infringement disputes. The developer and operator of the mobile phone software "Dubbing Show" APP was sued by the copyright holders of the animated short films "A Tanuki Dream Island My Cloud", "A Tanuki Mom", and "A Tanuki Shin yan", and the evidence submitted to the court included 14 dubbing materials derived from the works involved in the case, as well as more than 20,000 dubbing videos based on these dubbing materials. Users can tip dubbing videos based on dubbing materials by recharging the platform for gifts.

How does the court determine this? Lu Zhengxin, president of the First Comprehensive Trial Division of the Beijing Internet Court, introduced: "The characters he (the defendant) chose in "A Beaver" are more well-known in the public, and they have achieved the situation of promoting business models and commercial interests, and in the end, we determined that he should be given a higher duty of care, found that he committed the corresponding infringement, and ordered the defendant to compensate the plaintiff for economic losses of 15,000 yuan and reasonable expenses of 250 yuan." ”

(Image source: CFP)

In cyberspace, how to reasonably balance the interests of rights holders, communicators and the public in cyberspace, such as "dubbing shows", "listening to music and recognizing dramas", and "illustrated films"? Zhao Ruigang analyzed that in infringement cases such as "dubbing show", "seeing words as it is", and "listening to movies", all involved the partial use of the work, the court found that these uses essentially presented the original content of the work, which constituted infringement of other people's works.

Under the background of digital economy, the Internet field has shown a development trend of mixed industry integration, which has promoted new changes in the copyright industry ecology. New business models driven by concepts such as the "sharing economy" challenge traditional copyright protection rules. The operator of the "Man Man Watch" APP will "share" the 13 VIP member accounts of the Youku website purchased for a fee to thousands of network users, and can watch films such as "Wolf Warrior 2" that Youku enjoys exclusive information network dissemination rights. At the trial, Man Man Kan replied that it provided a "shared membership" business model and did not constitute infringement. The court held that this was an obvious "free rider" and "cannibalism and fattening", and there was obvious malice subjectively, constituting unfair competition. The judgment "Man man look" compensated Youku for economic losses and reasonable expenses of 2 million yuan.

Zhang Lianyong, vice president of the Second Comprehensive Trial Division of the Beijing Internet Court, said: "We have demonstrated our judicial attitude through judgments and resolutely curbed acts that infringe in the name of innovation. For example, the use of acts and business models such as 'sharing members' and 'listening to music and dramas' to disseminate the works of others is illegal. We have also identified this as infringement. ”

At present, the relationship between network users and platforms is characterized by "user-created content", and online platforms are deeply involved in the creation and dissemination of works, and share rights and benefits with network users through user agreements. Because 12 anchors sang "Little Jumping Frog" in the live broadcast room operated by Douyu Company 59 times, Douyu Company was ordered to compensate the copyright owner Qilin Tong Company for economic losses of 37,400 yuan and lawyer fees of 12,000 yuan. What signal does the verdict in such a case send? Yan Jun, vice president of the First Comprehensive Trial Division of the Beijing Internet Court, stressed that platforms should have a more prudent duty of care over user behavior. She said: "We also advocate that platforms strengthen the management of copyright compliance, take effective measures to prevent and curb infringement, and enable the Internet economy to achieve high-quality development in a healthy and orderly environment." ”