In some private theaters, the environment is dirty and poor privacy is difficult to ensure reporters investigate the development status of private theaters
Motivation for investigation
In recent years, with the booming Chinese film market and the development of Blu-ray, projector and other technologies and equipment, private cinemas have gradually emerged.
There are seats and sofas in independent boxes, projectors, large screens, and audio equipment. The lights can be adjusted. Consumers can bring their own or buy snacks and drinks to enjoy the fun of watching movies.
At the same time, some private cinema environments are dirty and messy, copyright infringement, and privacy is difficult to guarantee. They have also been criticized by consumers.
What's more, there have been vicious cases of sexual abuse of minors in the private rooms of individual private theaters.
In order to uncover the chaos in some private theaters and seek effective governance solutions, the reporter conducted an in-depth investigation and interview.
□ Zhang Shoukun, a trainee reporter of this newspaper
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
The so-called 20-square-meter private room is actually only six or seven square meters; there are many stains on the ground, the color of the pillow is black, and the hair is visible to the naked eye; the private room is not soundproof, and the voices of the next door can be clearly heard... This is a reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" A scene I observed when I recently walked into a number of private theaters in Tianjin to investigate the experience.
In addition, the reporter's investigation found that there are many online groups that specialize in candid photography and sales of private theater videos.
Searching on multiple life service apps, you can find that private theaters are developing rapidly. In addition to large and medium-sized cities, many counties also have private theaters; not only in popular business districts, but also near universities and inside communities. There are private theaters.
While private theaters meet people's entertainment consumption needs, there are also many hidden risks.
Net red filter is serious
Hygiene is worrying
Private theaters are also called "micro theaters", "shadow bars" and "audio-visual halls". Small private theaters have only four or five boxes, while large ones have thirty or forty boxes. Generally, each box can accommodate 2 to 5 people. people, with sofas, curtains ranging from 90 inches to 150 inches, etc.
On the whole, the internal facilities of the box are very similar to KTV, and consumers can order movies by themselves through related equipment or systems.
On February 28, the reporter came to a private theater with a high online rating in Hedong District, Tianjin, and chose a private room named "Kanagawa Theme Room".
In the introduction of the details of the group purchase, the private room type belongs to the medium package, with a size of 20 square meters. The promotional pictures are ins style and light luxury style.
According to the address on the Internet, the reporter came to a commercial office building behind a shopping mall. There are many small companies, interest classes, etc. in this building. One of the anti-theft doors is pasted with the logo of "Tianjin XX Internet Celebrity Private Cinema" .
After entering the private theater, the reporter saw that there are obvious signs of house renovation. The first floor is the reception desk and the bathroom, and the second floor is four independent private rooms, the largest one of which is more than ten square meters, and the "Kanagawa theme". The “room” is only six or seven square meters—a serious discrepancy with what was advertised online.
All private rooms are short and cramped because they are remodeled from ordinary apartments.
In addition to the shrinking of the room area, the layout inside is completely different from the promotional pictures.
The yellow sofa is gone, replaced by a "pool" surrounded by wooden boards, which is full of ocean balls, most of which have leaked and deflated, and some have turned black; the windows of the room have been sealed.
Such a private room costs 86 yuan for two hours and can be used by two people.
In a community less than one kilometer away from here, there is another private theater with the same structure. The furniture and props in the private room are more expensive, and the price is more expensive, but the room size and picture content on the store's promotional page, The same gap.
The reporter found that this situation is not uncommon, and many people on the Internet platform complain that private theaters are "filter attractions".
Meng Qiang, a professor at the Law School of Beijing Institute of Technology, said that according to the Advertising Law, advertisements must not contain false or misleading content, and must not deceive or mislead consumers, otherwise it will constitute false advertising, and advertising operators and advertising publishers should bear administrative responsibilities such as fines , consumers can report to the relevant departments.
Not only the "theme" of themed private rooms depends on the brain, but the environment of many private theaters is also worrying.
In the first private theater visited by the reporter, the pillows had turned black and had obvious water stains; the ocean balls and pillows were mixed with visible hair, some of which had already formed groups; There are snack scraps left over from previous customers.
In another private cinema where cats can be petted, the reporter found that there was a lot of dust on the projector in the theme room, there was also a thick layer of dust on the coffee table, and the cat in the cage also had a more obvious odor. taste.
Among the 5 private theaters that the reporter visited randomly, 4 found hair under the sofa or pillow, some cushions were yellow and black, obviously not cleaned for a long time, and the places where consumers do not often touch are thicker. dust accumulation.
Irregular business operation
Privacy is difficult to guarantee
On March 1, the reporter came to a private cinema located in a shopping mall in Heping District, Tianjin. The overall decoration style here is like a cinema. Each box is equipped with smoke alarms and fire extinguishers, and the corridors and stair entrances have obvious safety. Exit reminder sign.
Among the 5 private theaters that the reporter visited and experienced, this is the only private theater with complete firefighting facilities.
Other private theaters either have no equipment or have only one or two dusty fire extinguishers.
At the same time, this is also the only private theater that has clearly stated that it cannot be accommodated.
In 2 of the private theaters, the reporter saw that the private rooms with single bathroom and double bed are no different from ordinary hotel rooms, except that there are more projectors and curtains.
The reporter found that in all the online packages of private theaters, there is no time period for staying overnight.
But when asked face-to-face, the owner of a private theater in Hedong District said that he could stay overnight. The price for one night was between 150 yuan and 200 yuan. Many regular customers made direct reservations, and two private rooms had already been reserved that day.
It is worth noting that these private theaters do not authenticate or register consumers, whether they are watching movies or lodging.
In addition, the reporter found in the investigation that there are still many private theaters that fail to suspend business licenses as required, and do not have food, tobacco and alcohol sales licenses, and monopoly licenses to sell food, tobacco and alcohol.
What is the nature of a private cinema, and is accommodation allowed?
Qi Xiaobo, assistant director of the Tourism Research Center of the Institute of Geographical Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters that the "Regulations on the Management of On-demand Cinemas and On-demand Cinema Lines" issued in 2018 unified and standardized "private cinemas" as "on-demand cinemas", and must obtain a movie projection business license; It is clearly defined as a "fixed place that provides for-profit movie screening services to group audiences", not a temporary accommodation place, and cannot stay overnight.
"If a private theater wants to provide accommodation services, it must apply for the establishment of a hotel in accordance with the "Measures for the Administration of Public Security in the Hotel Industry", apply for approval from the relevant departments and obtain a business license. For minors, it is necessary to refer to the supervision obligations of the hotel industry set by the Unprotected Law. and commercial entertainment venues, and conduct relevant inquiries and registrations when minors enter." Qi Xiaobo said.
During the viewing process, the reporter found that few private theaters can effectively protect the privacy of users.
When watching a movie in a private theater in Hedong District, the reporter could clearly hear the ringing of the mobile phone downstairs, the movie and the voice in the private room next to it.
What's even more frightening is that "you watch the movie the whole time, and others are watching you the whole time."
The reporter's investigation found that there are many groups on the Internet that specialize in secretly filming and selling private cinema videos.
"Normal home cameras sold online, we buy them back and remove the casing, install them in a hidden location in a private theater, and then use the software to watch real-time monitoring and cloud playback, 150 yuan per camera, and we are all looking for people with a lot of traffic. The local installation, the location and the angle are very good." A customer service of a candid photography group told reporters that they can even carry out designated installation, that is, the customer provides the location, and the special person installs it in place within two days. The price is 320 yuan per unit, which can be installed for free Those who provide the location watch for 3 months.
The reporter found that dozens of private cinemas were secretly filmed only for the samples displayed in the group where the customer service was located. In just a few minutes, three people in the group expressed their willingness to buy secretly filmed videos.
A number of private theater owners told reporters that they had paid attention to similar problems when cleaning, and no abnormalities or customer complaints have been found at present, but they have not been tested with professional equipment.
Copyright has loopholes
Weak businessman awareness
"Themed private rooms" have always been a highlight of private cinema marketing.
The reporter found that in the promotional pictures of some businesses and the comments of consumers, many private theaters will choose to use famous cartoons and animations for theme room layout.
Several private cinema owners said that they felt that decorating rooms in this style could attract customers, and that everything used in the store was bought from authorized authorized stores, so there should be no infringement problem.
Huang Qunhui, a lawyer at Beijing Yinghe Law Firm, said that in general, cartoons and other images are works of art and are protected by copyright law in accordance with the law.
The use of private theaters requires the authorization of the copyright owner. Unauthorized use may bear legal responsibilities such as cessation of infringement, an apology, and compensation for losses.
In addition to themed rooms, the most important "movies" for private theaters may also be suspected of copyright infringement.
The Regulations on the Management of On-demand Cinemas and On-demand Cinema Lines make it clear that on-demand cinemas must join on-demand cinema chains, and adopt a more mature coding system with traditional cinema chain practices, so as to prevent piracy technically and protect the rights and interests of film copyright owners.
However, the reporter watched the movie and found that only one of the five private theaters had a film copyright that complied with the regulations.
According to the owner of the private theater, regular private theaters have their own film libraries. All film sources have purchased copyrights through formal channels, and have audio-visual licenses, on-demand licenses and related business licenses. Movies, if consumers are more willing to watch movies, will be introduced as soon as the movie is released.
Many private cinemas claimed to have a library of millions of films during their promotions. When the reporter actually watched the film, they found out that the boss had logged into the membership account of a film and television app in advance, and reminded the reporter not to click the "exit" button, otherwise, You have to log in again; the movie content that the user can see here depends on which movie rights the movie and TV app has purchased.
Is it legal to watch movies through "shared members" without a legal on-demand cinema chain?
The reporter saw in the membership service agreement of the film and television app that this membership service is a personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive license, which can only be used for non-commercial purposes and can only be used for private viewing.
On August 28, 2019, the first domestic case of renting a VIP account on a time-sharing video website was concluded in the People's Court of Haidian District, Beijing.
The court held that the act of renting out VIP member accounts by time-sharing is not the normal behavior of individual users, and will lead to an increase in the company's normal operating costs and risks, which is a malicious free-rider behavior.
In 2016, a private cinema in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, because it did not obtain a film projection business license, stored a certain film in projection equipment to provide consumers with broadcasting services, infringing the original film copyright owner's right to reproduce and show the film. Right, and was eventually sentenced by the court to delete the relevant film works and compensate for economic losses.
The reporter searched the China Judgment Documents website and found that there are not a few cases where private cinemas have been brought to court for similar infringements.
Huang Qunhui analyzed that it is illegal to use film copyrights for commercial operations without the authorization of the copyright owner.
For example, some private theaters arrange to play movies in a centralized manner, or copy movies to private room playback equipment for consumers to play on-demand, which will infringe the copyright owner's right to show and copy; store movies on self-built servers or local area networks for consumers. On-demand at any time will infringe the copyright owner's right of information network dissemination; log in the VIP account of the video website in advance for consumers to order, which is suspected of unfair competition to the video website.
Strengthen legal supervision
Multi-party governance
Why are there so many problems with private theaters that came into being to meet market demand?
In Huang Qunhui's view, the savage growth of private theaters is driven by interests on the one hand, and the practitioners lack legal awareness on the other hand. They think they are just opening an ordinary store. In fact, the private theater industry involves multiple laws and requires multiple licenses.
Qi Xiaobo believes that according to the "Regulations on the Management of On-demand Cinemas and On-demand Cinema Lines", private cinemas must have a film projection business license and a movie distribution business license for on-demand theater lines, but the regulations do not require business licenses and other business qualifications. As a result, some private theaters have no business license or business dislocation.
"If you don't have a tobacco monopoly license and food license, selling tobacco, alcohol, food and other commodities is a loophole in market supervision. The rectification of unlicensed private cinemas should be strengthened, and multi-departmental linkages should be made to formulate corresponding local regulations, and It is stipulated that private cinema operators must submit business licenses, fire safety certifications, public place hygiene licenses and other business qualification-related materials." Qi Xiaobo said that law enforcement departments should strengthen joint inspections to promptly detect and investigate violations of laws and regulations.
In Huang Qunhui's view, judging from the feedback from law enforcement agencies, private theater practitioners generally lack basic legal knowledge such as copyright awareness, license operation, and license filing, and some of them are operating with luck.
Therefore, it is necessary to increase publicity efforts and improve the awareness of legal compliance in the entire industry.
"For a private cinema to operate legally and compliantly, first of all, the subject must be legal, with a business license, a movie projection business license, etc., and if there is a food sales business, a food business license must also be obtained. Secondly, the content must be legal, that is, the legality of the film source. , to obtain the authorization of the copyright owner in advance." Huang Qunhui said.
In 2021, the People's Procuratorate of Huishan District, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, in handling a case involving minors, found that a private cinema box was equipped with beds, opaque doors and anti-theft chains, and the movie-viewing box became an actual "hourly room". , become a breeding ground for illegal crimes.
To this end, the court issued a procuratorial suggestion, requiring merchants to take the initiative to assume social responsibilities, sign a letter of commitment to legal business operations, refer to KTV’s transparency of private room doors, and refer to the supervision obligations of the hotel industry set by the Unprotected Law. registration etc.
During the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress this year, a representative of the National People's Congress suggested that relevant departments strictly regulate the approval and operation of private theaters and include them in special industries for supervision, explicitly prohibit the reception of minors for independent consumption, strengthen the protection of minors by operators, and ensure that private Cinema facilities are safe and standardized, eliminating the "blank areas" of legal supervision.
Meng Qiang said that in the development process of new things, once they are profitable and the supervision is not in place, they will often deviate from their original intentions and cause chaos. In this regard, various parties should work together to bring private theaters into the track of legal supervision, so as to allow a new type of entertainment consumption experience To be truly healthy and sound development.
Graphics / Li Xiaojun