The opening credits of "Sweeping Dark Storm" were suspected of plagiarism and the platform that provided the material later apologized

Recently, the TV series "Sweeping Dark Storm" starring Sun Honglei was exclusively broadcast on Tencent Video and was loved by many viewers. However, the TV series also caused a series of controversies after it was broadcast.

It was previously reported that Cao Qi (pseudonym), a photographer from Anhui, said that two sets of images in the time-lapse photography material of an old house he shot in his hometown in 2020 were suspected to be used in the opening of the hit TV series "Sweeping Dark Storm", but he had no idea about this before, which attracted the attention of many netizens.

Beijing Zhengtong Yihe Culture and Art Exchange Co., Ltd., which was responsible for producing the opening credits, issued a statement saying that the material was purchased from another material website, VJshi, on July 21, and that it had promptly contacted and asked VJshi to investigate the source of the material's rights and the legality of its authorization. The statement said that it would actively coordinate with all parties involved to clarify the truth and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of copyright owners in accordance with the law.

On the evening of September 2, the material trading service platform VJshi.com issued an apology statement, stating that after verification, the contributor Gao (platform nickname: Snowflake Starry Sky) completed real-name authentication on April 23, 2020, and signed a "Contribution Agreement" and "Author Real-Name Statement" with the company, making an original commitment to the uploaded works. After confirming with the person himself, Gao provided non-original works, his account has been banned, and the cooperation has been terminated.

VJshi.com apologizes to the rights holders and related parties involved in this incident. We are currently actively communicating with all parties and will assume due responsibilities. We will further strengthen the work ownership review mechanism, strengthen the management of contributors, and fully protect the rights and interests of users.

Industry insiders said that it is a common practice in the industry to entrust the production of the opening credits of a TV series like "Sweeping Dark Storm" to a professional company, and then the professional company purchases the relevant video materials from the website. The key to this problem lies in the problem of the material purchase channel. "There are many websites selling pirated audio and video materials on the market, so it is important to distinguish them."