□ Our reporter Zhao Chenxi
It was originally a discussion about the development of Chinese football, but inadvertently threw out the "big melon" of the star's fake signature.
Recently, when comedian Gong Hanlin posted his collection of the national football "Golden Generation" signed footballs, netizens discovered that the signature of the former national football goalkeeper "Ou Chuliang" was written as "Ou Chuliang".
Since then, Ou Chuliang himself also stated that the signature was not signed by himself.
Nowadays, many sports fans enjoy collecting idol peripheral products. In the huge sports collectibles market, the most sought after products are star autographed products.
"Even the signed footballs collected by comedians are fake, can we collect real?" This incident made many netizens worry about the authenticity of their "collections".
"Celebrity signatures are also protected by intellectual property rights." Huang Ji, a researcher at the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, pointed out in an interview with the "Rule of Law Daily" reporter that without the authorization of the stars, the signatures of the stars were imitated and copied without authorization, and they were disseminated or even engaged in Profit-making activities are all suspected of infringement.
Counterfeit celebrity signature allegedly infringed
The recent heated discussion on the Internet about fake star autographs has made Li Shuo, who lives in Daxing District, Beijing, cherish the NBA star autograph cards he collects even more.
"The NBA star card is an official collection of cards, which can be divided into ordinary cards, physical cards, signature cards, etc. Among them, the signature card has a higher collection value because of the player's signature." Li Shuo told reporters that his collection of stars Most of the cards are sold by a company called Panini, which signed a contract with the NBA and obtained the player's portrait rights, signature rights, etc., and copyright protection is not only written on the back of each card. , and the limited-edition cards will also bear the official stamp number.
Li Shuo, who has "entered the pit" star card for nearly ten years, has seen many signature cards. He bluntly said that it is not difficult to imitate if it is purely for star signatures.
On a blank piece of paper, he quickly "signed" the autograph of his favorite star Curry. As a veteran fan, he said that this was just a "routine operation", and many fans would imitate their favorite stars to sign.
"It doesn't matter if you imitate celebrity signatures just to entertain yourself, but if you use fake signatures to pass fakes as real, or even use them for commercial purposes, you are suspected of infringement." Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, explained that the Civil Code No. 1000 Article 14 stipulates that no organization or individual may infringe on others' name rights or title rights by means of interference, misappropriation, or counterfeiting.
Therefore, the act of counterfeiting the celebrity's signature violates the celebrity's right to name. If the fake signature affects the celebrity's social evaluation, professional reputation, etc., it is also suspected of infringing the celebrity's right of reputation.
"Counterfeiting the star's signature is also suspected of infringing the star's intellectual property rights." Huang Ji added that if the star's signature can reflect the star's personalized design and arrangement in fonts and glyphs, it can be considered that the signature is original and constitutes a For works protected by the Copyright Law, unauthorized copying and imitation of celebrity signatures to manufacture signature products will be suspected of infringing copyright.
"Actually, some celebrities and their brokerage companies will register the celebrity's personalized signature as a trademark. In this case, duplicating the celebrity's signature without authorization may also be suspected of infringing trademark rights." Huang Ji said that the celebrity's name usually has a more specific name. Large reputation and commercial influence, unauthorized use of other people's names with certain influence, may also constitute unfair competition.
Self-made signature cards are illegal
Like Li Shuo, Peng Xiaofei (pseudonym), who is in his second year of sophomore year, is also a football star card enthusiast. Since he has no more economic conditions to collect, with the "help" of a friend, he began to use the "knowledge" of the art major. Started a "self-made card" business.
"The so-called self-made cards are the football cards made by the 'artisans' themselves. Some of them are original, and most of them are directly copied from the football cards that have been sold. The signatures of the players on the cards are all imitations." Peng Xiaofei currently conducts some second-hand transactions. The platform sells "self-made cards" made by itself, and can also undertake "custom" business. Some of the more popular star signatures can be imitated.
Peng Xiaofei has repeatedly said that making these cards by himself is only to allow more people with limited funds to access the collection of star cards. When he sells cards, he will specially mark them as "self-made cards" and the price is very cheap, such as an NBA star Kobe Bryant. The price of his signature card is only a few dozen yuan, but an officially issued Kobe signature card sells for tens of thousands of yuan.
The reporter searched for "self-made signature cards" on a second-hand trading platform, and found that many sellers were selling such signature products, and some of them also marked the words "no transaction value" and "only for personal use".
"Even if the online sale of counterfeit signature products is marked with words such as 'self-made' and the price is low, it cannot be used as a 'excusing reason', and it is still suspected of infringing the intellectual property rights and name rights of celebrities." Huang Ji pointed out that the marked " The words "self-made products" just indicate that the seller has an obvious and blatant intention to sell counterfeit goods, and the degree of subjective fault is relatively high, which can be the reason for law enforcement and judicial departments to order him to bear heavier tort liability.
Liu Junhai agrees with this. He believes that the sale of "self-made signature cards" and annotating them seem to respect consumers' right to know and choose, but copying signatures without permission is an infringement in itself. Celebrity cards or photos will also infringe the star's portrait rights, and if the amount is large or there is malicious deception and other circumstances, it will also be suspected of fraud.
Clarify platform responsibilities and curb chaos
After the reporter searched for the keyword "star signature" on a second-hand trading platform, in addition to the officially released star cards, there are also some star signature products with certificates from foreign third-party independent certification agencies such as JSA, PSA, and Beckett.
However, the reporter noticed that most of the signature products of domestic stars do not have any certificates, and the prices range from tens of yuan to thousands of yuan. From the perspective of user evaluations, the proportion of questioned "fake signatures" is high.
"This type of star signature is commonly known as 'field signature' in the circle, which means to find a star to sign on the spot, most of which are signed on posters or some basketball, boxing gloves and other peripheral sports goods." Li Shuo bluntly said that the " Most of the "on-site signatures" do not have identification certificates. Although some sellers will post videos or photos taken by celebrities when they sign to prove the authenticity of the signatures, they are still "deep."
In particular, some sellers promise to accept the "To sign" business, that is, the star starts with "To: the name of the signer" when signing, and then attaches the signature to express the "exclusiveness" of the signature. The signature fraud rate is very high.
In view of the current mixed market of star signature products, Liu Junhai believes that it is necessary to rectify and standardize.
In addition to encouraging some qualified and capable companies to obtain celebrity authorization and issue genuine celebrity signature products, the key to solving this chaos is to clarify the responsibility of online platforms.
Liu Junhai suggested to formulate rules for the sale of signature products. The so-called "self-made signature" products should be resolutely removed from the shelves. At the same time, stricter approval procedures should be set up when listing star signature products on the platform. For example, the seller must provide the corresponding identification certificate and authorization. If the report or other materials that can prove the authenticity of the signature cannot be provided, it must be refused to be sold on the shelves.
Huang Ji pointed out that e-commerce platforms and social platforms have become the main areas for selling counterfeit signature products. These online stores and online users have a large number, small scale and wide distribution. Big.
Therefore, the supervision of online platforms for merchants and users is particularly important, and a comprehensive governance system of intellectual property owners, online platforms, and law enforcement agencies should be built to effectively regulate such behaviors.
"When users on the online platform sell counterfeit signature products, whether the platform can be exempted from liability based on the 'notice-deletion' rule in the field of online infringement is also an issue that needs to be discussed." In Huang Ji's view, based on the entertainment industry and cultural industry Laws and common sense, it is impossible for a product signed by a star to be put on the market in large quantities in a short period of time, and its price is also higher.
In reality, the so-called signature products sold by many online stores are characterized by high sales volume and low price, and some online stores openly use words such as "simulation signature" in product promotion. Under these circumstances, the online store's infringement has become very obvious. , the online platform should not passively wait for the right holder to send an infringement notice, but must take the initiative to take regulatory measures, otherwise it should be determined to jointly bear the infringement liability with the merchant selling the fake.
If the online store sells counterfeit signature products in a relatively hidden and small number, the platform can be allowed to take measures such as removal and supervision in a timely manner after receiving the infringement notice.