On July 29, the "More Beautiful APP" added another legal action.
According to the Tianyancha APP, Beijing Perfect Creative Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Perfect Creative"), the operator of the "More Beautiful APP", violated Tang Yan's portrait rights without the consent of the plaintiff, and compensated the latter for economic losses of 50,000 yuan.
Red Star Capital Bureau combed and found that as of now, Perfect Creative has involved a total of 140 legal litigation cases. Among them, there are as many as 66 cases involving disputes over portrait rights.
For infringement of portrait rights
Tang Yan sued the more beautiful APP and was awarded 50,000 yuan
According to the data, Perfect Creative was founded in 2013, "More Beautiful APP" is a medical aesthetic platform under Beijing Perfect Creative, providing plastic surgery, micro-plastic surgery, dental, ophthalmology, anti-aging and other medical aesthetic services.
On July 29, the first-instance civil judgment of the online infringement liability dispute between Tang Yan and Beijing Perfect Creative Technology Co., Ltd. was made public, case number (2021) Jing 0491 Min Chu No. 8372, and the trial court was the Beijing Internet Court.
According to the judgment, from January 2015 to June 2016, the defendant Perfect Creative Branch published a video entitled "More Beautiful Pickpocketing | Topic Queen Tang Yan Transformed into Silly White Sweet Mary Sue Queen in a Total of Several Steps" on the "More Beautiful" WeChat public account operated by the defendant Perfect Creative Branch, "Tang Yan Plastic Surgery Revealed, a video with millions of clicks to show you!" " and other articles, using multiple portraits of the plaintiff, including film and television drama screenshots, stills, life photos, etc. The article contains more beautiful APP posters, WeChat QR codes and other information.
Screenshot source Beijing Court Trial Information Network
The defendant's use of her portrait without the plaintiff's permission infringed Tang Yan's right to portrait and should bear the responsibilities of stopping the damage, compensating for the loss, and apologizing.
The final judgment resulted that the defendant, Beijing Perfect Creative Technology Co., Ltd., published a statement on its WeChat public account "More Beautiful" for ten consecutive days after the judgment took effect, apologizing to the plaintiff Tang Yan and compensating the plaintiff Tang Yan for economic losses of 50,000 yuan.
On July 30, a search for the above articles on the "More Beautiful" WeChat public account found that the above articles were suspected to have been deleted. Subsequently, the Red Star Capital Bureau searched in the more beautiful APP Baidu Tieba and found that "More Beautiful" used a large number of photos before and after the suspected Tang Yan did the beauty plastic surgery project in a post published on June 3, 2016, "Tang Yan's Face Change History".
In addition, it mentions words such as "the shape of the face is really a pie", "later the cheekbones are reduced, the lines become rounded", "it is suspected that a small amount of hyaluronic acid or autologous fat is injected".
In addition, the Red Star Capital Bureau combed and found that there are currently 3 civil cases of Perfect Creative about to be heard. Among them, the online infringement liability dispute between Qi Wei and Beijing Perfect Creative was heard on August 4, 2021, the network infringement liability dispute between Wu Xin and Beijing Perfect Creative was heard on August 12, 2021, and the network infringement liability dispute between Pan Shiqi and Beijing Perfect Creative was heard on August 19, 2021.
52.5% of the cases involved were online infringement liability disputes
Wang Yibo, Guan Xiaotong, and Yang Ying are all suing
In fact, the above cases are not unique.
In recent years, Perfect Creative has been involved in legal litigation cases many times, and in 2021 alone, it has involved 15 legal proceedings, most of which involve star artists, including Wang Yibo, Guan Xiaotong, Yang Ying, Zhou Dongyu, Xu Qing, etc. Some people in the industry even call it a "professional household in porcelain marketing".
Involved in online infringement liability disputes with many celebrities
According to relevant statistics, due to disputes over the right to reputation, portrait rights or online infringement liability disputes, Perfect Creative has been sued by at least 30 star artists, involving more than 60 lawsuits, and a total of more than 3.3 million yuan in damages.
Red Star Capital Bureau combed and found that every time the artist was sued in court for infringing on the right to reputation or the right to portrait, Perfect Creative's defense was basically the same, first of all, it insisted that "the act of quoting the plaintiff's photo in the public account is not a commercial act, not for profit, and belongs to the category of citizens' right to freedom of expression", followed by the use of photos is fair use, does not constitute an infringement of portrait rights, and the behavior will not bring any benefits to the company's user volume growth; and finally, it is said that the relevant articles have been deleted. The scope of the spread was limited, the plaintiff did not suffer any losses, and the defendant did not receive any benefit.
The court found that Perfect Creative Company used celebrity portraits in its WeChat public account articles without authorization to attract public attention, reading, and promote WeChat public accounts and businesses. Combined with the business scope of Perfect Creative Company, the company's use of celebrity portraits is a commercial use and constitutes an infringement of the right to portraits.
In addition, since 2018, the number of cases involved in Perfect Creative has gradually increased.
Tianyan's investigation shows that from 10 cases of information involved in 2017, to a total of 29 cases in 2019, to 48 cases of related information in 2019. The combing found that in recent years, Perfect Creative has involved a total of 140 legal proceedings, most of which have ended in defeat, and the cumulative amount of compensation paid by the defendant/appellee has exceeded 4.47 million yuan. Among them, 52.5% of the cases involved were online infringement liability disputes, and there are still 123 cases in the civil first-instance trial stage.
At present, there are 123 cases in the civil first-instance trial stage
Source Tianyancha 52.5% of the cases involved in the case were online infringement liability disputes
Previously, according to the Red Star Capital Bureau, on July 28, Beijing Perfect Creative Technology Co., Ltd., the operator of the "More Beautiful APP", was enforced by the court for 55.24 million yuan for failing to perform its legal obligations on time. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the More Beautiful APP told Red Star Capital Bureau that it is a legal dispute of an affiliated enterprise other than the main company operating the More Beautiful APP, and the company is filing a review.
Red Star News reporter Yu Yao intern reporter Shen Mengyun
Edited by Yang Cheng
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