Long vs short. Chinese video litigation war breaks out without honor

　“Video distribution” can be broadly divided into those that distribute works such as movies and dramas such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and short video applications such as TikTok. In China, the former is called "long visual frequency", that is, long video, and there are Baidu subsidiary "iQIYI", Tencent's "Tencent visual frequency", Alibaba participation "youku", etc. (If you are a Japanese video content holder rights department, you should know about this long video service). The latter is major in syllables (Byte Dance, TikTok) and quick hands.

　I think you can imagine the copyright infringement situation of uploading a part of video works such as movies, dramas, and animations to short videos, but in this way, there are a large number of domestic video distribution services and SNS in China. In addition, in recent years, the Chinese government has been serious about "copyright protection", so copyright infringement is being cracked down more severely than in Japan, and civil lawsuits are increasing.

　By the way, you may feel that you can trust the Chinese courts, but there is a court case where a foreign company won the China Central Television (CCTV), so it seems that they are doing it quite seriously.

　We will introduce the battle over such video works and short videos in China based on the article of "Interface Newspaper".

Wrath of content holders

" We are not against short videos, we are against copyright infringement by short videos, " said a member of the China National Political Consultative Conference (organized by representatives of political parties and industry groups other than the Communist Party. In terms of the system, opinions are widely sought at the Political Consultative Conference, policies are decided at the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and reflected in national politics at the National People's Congress. Committee member), vice president of the Beijing Television Artists Association, and film director Liu Jacheng.

　Liu Jiacheng sternly pointed out that short video copyright infringement is destroying creators' creative destruction system. According to Liu Jiacheng's research, the infringement of rights by short videos has already affected the major works of the year. It is said that they are deeply related.

　Since the beginning of this year, there seems to be a gradual increase in lawsuits over copyright issues between long and short video distribution platforms, as there is no room for cooperation between the two .

The court ordered compensation of tens of millions to hundreds of millions of yen

　On October 31, a copyright infringement case was filed between Beijing Aiqi Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Kaitech Technology Co., Ltd., and Beijing Dajia Mutual Information Technology Co., Ltd. regarding the video work Lao Jiumen. Judgment has been announced. The ruling ordered Kaite to pay approximately 2.18 million yen (44 million yen) to Aikigei for economic losses and legal costs.

　Five days before that, Tencent sued ByteDance for copyright infringement (right to enable transmission) of the work "Yunnan Mushiya" in the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court. Although 32 million yuan of compensation was ordered, punitive compensation (under the copyright law of China, which has become serious about eradicating copyright infringement, in addition to economic loss, it is possible to claim up to the same amount as "punitive compensation". ) was not accepted.

　In this kind of copyright-related litigation, the plaintiffs are generally the rights holders of "long video" content such as iqiyi, youku (Alibaba affiliate), Tencent TV, Manguo TV (Hunan Broadcasting Television Station), and variety program rights holders. Defendants are said to be short video platforms that mostly feature user-uploaded content, such as ByteDance and Kaiseki.

　In December last year, Beijing Aiqiyi sued Beijing ByteDance for infringing on the rights of "Yanxi Capture" to the Haidian District People's Court in Beijing, and the company paid 2 million yuan in compensation for economic losses and court costs. I have an order.

Issues such as the complexity of rights relationships in derivative works

　According to Sun Shan, director of the Intellectual Property Law Study Group of the Chinese Law Society and associate professor of the Civil and Commercial Law School of the Southwest University of Political and short video companies are not advocates for the public good, so they shouldn't be under the banner of preserving the public good.

　The existence of a large number of infringing videos on short video platforms has also drawn widespread attention from the industry.

　In April 2021, 70 companies, including movie companies, video sites, and video works associations, demanded that short video platforms and official account users respect the original work, protect copyrights, and prohibit the use of cuts and edits of video works without permission. There was a joint statement by

According to the 2021 White Paper on Copyright Protection of Short Videos in China, the main issues related to short video copyrights are the complexity of the copyright issue for secondary creation videos, and the lack of copyright protection and rights confirmation systems for short videos. It is incomplete, the platform filter system is not standardized, and it is difficult to protect rights.

"Operation to eradicate copyright infringement" with police intervention

　This kind of confusion in the digital content field is also given great importance by the relevant authorities. , Four departments of the National Mutual Network Information Office carry out the "Ken Net Action 2022" project aimed at eradicating Internet piracy.

　In particular, there have been continuous nationwide crackdowns on short videos that have been released without permission or beyond the scope of permission, or that have been cut or edited without permission ("movie copyrighted works"). It is positioned as the 18th Internet piracy eradication project that is being developed.

　In addition, "Kenami Action" underestimated the platformer's responsibility by strengthening the copyright management of the platform, short videos, live distribution, and EC sites in accordance with the law (explained in general review) Copyright infringement Eradication of copyright infringement, clarification of the responsibility of platform operators, expeditious action against copyright infringing content and accounts that repeat copyright infringement, and convenient management and protection by rights holders.

Overall review/commentary

　First, regarding infringers of rights on Internet platforms, I think there is a question as to whether damages can be claimed against users. The former (site management side) is obliged to take measures such as deleting the posted contents "as soon as possible" in response to complaints of infringement of rights, and if it violates this, it is said that it will be liable for compensation. is called the “harbor” principle. Japan's judicial precedents are generally treated in the same way (although Japan has a strong domestic jurisprudence, so it does not rely on the principles of US law as it does in China).

　However, there is room for interpretation of "as soon as possible", and from the point of view of confirming the facts in the first place, it is a problem especially in secondary creation, so as a site operator on the short video side, I would like to postpone it as much as possible. , As the rights holder of the original work, "immediately", I'm angry to delete it now.

　Furthermore, in China, the government, including the police, is actively embarking on “eradication of copyright infringement”. It seems that there is a stronger belief than Western countries that there is a "duty" to supervise content that is not only related to ideas and beliefs, but also to ensure that the private rights of others are not infringed.

　There was a time when China was considered a paradise for piracy, but the current state of affairs in which the Chinese government has become an absolute  killing man for copyright infringement is deeply moving.