"Li Ziqi" IP robbery: Wei Nian responds to litigation disputes Equity distribution contradictions have appeared a year ago?

Per reporter: Ye Xiaodan Per editor: Song Siyan

On the evening of November 1, in response to the recent IP disputes and lawsuits of "Li Ziqi", which has attracted much public attention, Hangzhou Wei Nian Brand Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wei Nian"), which is responsible for the operation and promotion of the "Li Zi Qi" brand and IP, responded.

WeiNian said that the company received a notice of litigation on November 1. Previously, according to Qixinbao, on October 25, Sichuan Ziqi Culture Communication Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ziqi Culture) added new case filing information in cases related to Liu Tongming and Wei Nian, and the plaintiff in the first instance was Ziqi Culture, and the defendants were Wei Nian and Liu Tongming.

From the suspension of the "Li Ziqi" account to the litigation dispute to the subsequent announcement of byteDance to start the withdrawal of the micro-idea equity process, Internet celebrities, IP, new consumer brands, capital, and many factors are intertwined, which has pushed up the attention of public opinion. Judging from the explanation on the evening of November 1, the contradiction between Wei Nian and Li Ziqi had appeared as early as a year ago, but Wei Nian said that there had been no substantial progress so far, resulting in the current situation. It is worth noting that behind the hot search, how to solve the contradiction? Equity and other equity matters have lasted for a year to reach a consensus, where will it eventually go under the attention of public opinion and the intervention of the judiciary? Whose "Plum Ziqi" is "Plum Ziqi" in the end?

<h2>Micro-thoughts: Never spoken out to be officially explained</h2>

"Li Ziqi" account suspension for 2 months, there is no shortage of various types of bloggers to release Li Ziqi in the equity structure "suffered losses" news, the daily economic news on September 18 published "who's "Li Ziqi": the head of the Internet celebrity stopped for two months, Li Ziqi suspected that the brokerage company is now entangled in interests, at that time had repeatedly contacted Wei Nian, but has not been responded to.

Since then, the news that stepson culture sued Wei Nian and ByteDance withdrew from investing in "Wei Nian" has fermented in major media, but Wei Nian in the eyes of the storm has not been spoken.

At about 2:00 p.m. on October 29, the Daily Economic News reporter went to the location of The registered address of Wei Nian, in the Singapore Science and Technology Park in Qiantang District, Hangzhou City, Wei Nian and Bai Cao Wei lived next to each other, the company has about 4 floors, is a single office building. When the reporter arrived at the entrance of the company, there was a truck printed with the words "Lala" at the door, and from time to time, employees moved a large cardboard box with the word "Qi" logo from the car. There are many employees working in the office areas on the 3rd and 4th floors, but some of the office areas do not see employees in the workstations.

Location of Wei Nian's registered address Image source: Photo by reporter Ye Xiaodan

When the "Daily Economic News" reporter entered the company's interior, went to the capital market office, and asked its staff about the recent litigation disputes about Micro-Nian and whether to respond to it, the staff said that it was necessary to dock with the company's colleagues in charge of brand media; later, another staff member of Micro-Nian told reporters that the interview needed to be booked in advance, and the follow-up would find the relevant departments to feedback the interview needs. When asked if the company would respond recently, the employee said he didn't know about it.

If you say that before, the micro-thoughts have been kept secret. Then, on November 1, the explanation on the official micro-blog was the first step in a public response.

<h2>Equity contradictions were signs of a year ago? </h2>

On the evening of November 1. The notes released by WeNian highlight several aspects:

First, the litigation dispute between Li Jiajia and Wei Nian is true. Wei Nian said that it had officially received a notice of litigation from the Intermediate People's Court of Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, on November 1, and said that it would respond to the lawsuit in accordance with legal procedures.

Second, Wei Nian said that it has grown from an MCN company to a new consumer goods company. If the value of MCN company lies in the incubation and operation of the anchor, then after successfully creating the "Plum Ziqi" IP, Wei Nian through the brand landing and commercial operation, "Li ZiQi" as a new consumer brand in recent years to catch up, quite concerned, Micro Nian harvested multiple rounds of financing, according to industry analysis, in addition to the "Li Ziqi" IP value, there is also a new consumer brand track to ride the wind imagination space.

Third, Wei Nian said that as early as more than a year ago, Wei Nian proposed Ms. Li Jiajia's equity plan and cooperation model direction, and signed an agreement on relevant share arrangements and cooperation costs with the consent of shareholders, and also communicated with Ms. Li Jiajia on equity and other equity matters many times, but there was no substantive progress, which eventually led to the current situation, and Wei Nian was responsible.

From the perspective of equity structure, Li Jiajia is the legal representative of Ziqi Culture, holding 49% of the equity, and Weinian holds 51% of the equity. However, in the shareholding structure of Wei Nian, Li Jiajia's figure did not appear, and Wei Nian, which operated the "Li Ziqi" brand, was optimistic about many investors, and after many rounds of financing, according to previous media reports, its valuation reached about 5 billion yuan.

Some insiders analyzed to the "Daily Economic News" reporter that Li Jiajia is responsible for content output and can obtain huge traffic on social platforms, but the investment expenditure costs in all aspects are estimated to be not low, and it is still difficult to rely on the content output of the video itself to continue to achieve greater commercial value. With the landing of the "Li Ziqi" brand in the e-commerce channel, Wei Nian can realize the closed loop of the business model of independent brand building through the influence of "Li Ziqi".

For the receipt of Li Jiajia's complaint, Wei Nian also expressed his willingness to continue communication and consultation in the explanation, "The company is willing to continue to communicate frankly on issues such as the content of cooperation between the two sides and the way of cooperation, and sincerely hopes that both sides can untie the knot and continue to move forward hand in hand." ”

<h2>"Plum Ziqi" who is still selling goods</h2>

Following Wei Nian's explanation, Weibo's "her assistant", who commented on Li Ziqi's assistant, also updated a new development on the evening of November 1, which mentioned that "who dares to ask for shares of a company that has not even disclosed its contract truthfully to investors and shareholders?" ”

How the subsequent dispute between Li Jiajia and Wei Nian will develop is still unknown. However, at present, it is the annual "Double Eleven" shopping festival, although the Weibo blogger "Li Ziqi", who focuses on the aesthetics of oriental life, has not updated the video for 3 months, but the Taobao Li Ziqi flagship store is still actively participating in the Double Eleven activities, and the operator of the flagship store belongs to Wei Nian.

The output of "Li Ziqi" IP content has stopped, but the "Li Ziqi" independent brand is still selling goods. Where does the highly recognizable "Li Ziqi" IP belong? Full of suspense.

There is no shortage of precedents for similar situations in the MCN industry.

Wu Jingqian, a partner at Beijing Jiayuan Law Firm, previously analyzed in an interview with the "Daily Economic News" reporter that at present, China's protection of the right to commercialization has not yet formed a mature legislative system, and in the contradictions and disputes between the endless Internet celebrities and brokerage companies, there are often entanglements in name rights, portrait rights, trademark rights, copyrights and other rights, and the nature of self-media accounts is also disputed. As an important intangible asset, intellectual property rights determine the success or failure of business model operations, and in the future cooperation and development of Internet celebrities and brokerage companies, special attention should be paid to related issues such as intellectual property ownership and conflict of rights.

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