The first illustrated film in China to be convicted of copyright infringement. "Watching XXX in 10 minutes" is in danger

People who love to watch TV dramas may have had this experience: the drama they want to watch is too long and takes too long, so they choose to read an article or commentary with a plot summary and pictures. In a long TV show, you can get the main plot in just a few minutes. Then the question is, do you know that this form of illustration also has the risk of copyright infringement?

According to Beijing Law Network, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court recently concluded a case concerning the information network dissemination rights of the "illustrated movies" Eternal Love and The Advisors Alliance. After trial, the court held that the defendant Shushu Technology Company infringed the information network dissemination rights enjoyed by Youku Company for the above two dramas, upheld the first-instance judgment, and ordered compensation of 30,000 yuan for economic losses.

The "Illustrated Movies" App and "Illustrated Movies" website operated by Shushu Technology Company are online graphic and text movie commentary platforms that promote the idea of ​​"enjoying a good movie in ten minutes" and provide "Illustrated Movies" picture collections of the above two works on their website.

Youku believed that its actions had infringed the information network dissemination rights of the works involved and took the case to court. The first instance court held that the alleged infringement of "Illustrated Movies" was established and ordered the defendant to compensate for economic losses of 30,000 yuan. Shushu Technology Company was dissatisfied and appealed to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.

The TV series involved in the case are continuous dynamic film and television pictures, while the online picture collection involved in the case is static pictures. Although the two have different forms of expression, it does not mean that the act of providing works does not exist if the form of quasi-electronic works is changed. Moreover, according to existing production technology, the essence of quasi-electronic works with moving pictures is the collection and continuous playback of static pictures. The frames in quasi-electronic works should also be part of the work.

Therefore, the key to determining whether the defendant has provided works lies in examining whether the picture collection in question uses original expressions of the drama in question and can basically reflect the entire content of the drama.

In this case, the online picture collection involved captured 382 pictures from the TV series involved, which were original expressions of the TV series involved and could reflect the complete content of the TV series. They constituted an act of providing works, and through online means, the public could obtain the picture collection involved at a time and place of their own choice. Therefore, the court determined that the above-mentioned acts of the defendant had infringed the plaintiff's right to disseminate the TV series involved through the information network.