After experiencing the frenzy of the first round of hits, the TV series "Hurricane" is now being broadcast in the second round, and it can be said that the popularity has not diminished.
Recently, some netizens discovered a certain similarity between the opening titles of "Hurricane" and the opening titles of Netflix's 2020 documentary "The Innocence Files", which led to extensive discussions among netizens on the topic of "plagiarism".
In recent years, there have been frequent disputes over the titles of film and television dramas, and voices such as infringement, plagiarism, similarity, and reference have been accompanied by the popularity of various works, causing a storm of public opinion.
For works of art, how is plagiarism defined?
Is it true that two pictures are highly similar?
Is it legal to buy materials on the website to make titles?
With doubts, a reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News interviewed lawyers and film and television practitioners.
The title of the popular "Hurricane" was accused of plagiarism and appeared on the hot search
The opening title of "Hurricane" is about 1 minute and 30 seconds long, and it is the first 30 seconds that are in dispute.
The shot at the beginning of the title adopts a contrasting method, dividing the portrait photo of the character into four fragments, and then the picture is divided into two, each corresponding to two tones, implying the identity changes of the characters in different periods.
Netizens believe that such a composition method and color tone of the picture are similar to the Netflix documentary "The Innocent Files".
"The Innocence Files" premiered on April 15, 2020.
Tianyancha's official Weibo has disclosed the company behind "Hurricane".
According to the Tianyancha APP, the design and production company of the opening and ending credits of "Hurricane" is Beijing Houlang Dachao Culture Media Co., Ltd.
The company is held 51% and 49% by Beijing Liubai Times Film and Television Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and Chengfeng Qishi Technology Partnership (Limited Partnership), Wuqing District, Tianjin, respectively.
It is worth mentioning that the 2021 annual report shows that the company has zero social security participants.
According to public information, the production companies of "Hurricane" are CCTV, Beijing iQiyi Technology Co., Ltd., Dongyang Liubai Film and Television Culture Co., Ltd., and China Chang'an Publishing and Media Co., Ltd.
As soon as the news came out, the topic #hurricane title was accused of plagiarism# topped the Weibo hot search list.
Many netizens discussed: "This is basically the same!" "Member users skip the beginning and end of the film directly, and they really didn't pay attention to these details." "It's really similar, can't the show be more rigorous?"" Plagiarism of titles is not supported, but it does not affect that "Hurricane" is a good drama."
To this end, a reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News interviewed lawyer Zuo Yanju of Guangdong Jinlun Law Firm. She said that judging the infringement cases involving "Hurricane" in judicial practice will be more complicated, and it is necessary to comprehensively determine whether the two constitute substantial similarity. , but this judgment process also needs to combine the specific explanations of the process of conception and interpretation of the picture and the elements of originality: "Because the division of the two pictures has become a common art technique in art works, and the picture Whether the composition and use of color are original, whether they should be protected, etc., may be included in the consideration of whether the law determines whether it constitutes plagiarism.”
Phenomenon Many popular dramas have been involved in plagiarism
In recent years, in the film and television industry, disputes over whether titles, posters, props, fonts, etc. are infringing are not uncommon.
According to industry insiders, it is a common practice in the industry to hand over the titles of drama series to professional companies for production, and for professional companies to purchase relevant video materials from websites.
However, problems are prone to occur in material procurement channels, and it is very important to identify the legitimacy of material website resources.
The hit drama "Sweeping Black Storm" was once caught in a plagiarism storm.
On September 2, 2021, the netizen "Wang Strawberry ss" released a video comparing the title of the hit drama "Sweeping Black Storm" with his own photography, questioning the drama producer's plagiarism of his work.
According to "Wang Strawberry ss", after "Sweeping Black Storm" became popular, he also loved to follow the show, but he found a very familiar picture at the beginning of the title.
More than 20 seconds into the opening, he saw that the picture was very similar to the material he shot last year, and the two scenes totaled 8 seconds.
"Wang Strawberry ss" said that it once uploaded this material to the "New Studio" website, but it was not authorized for commercial use.
On September 2, Beijing Zhengtong Yihe Cultural and Art Exchange Co., Ltd., which is in charge of producing the title of "Sweeping Black Storm", issued a statement saying that this material was purchased from another material website VJshi on July 21, and that it has contacted and requested VJshi website in time. Investigate the source of rights and authorization legality of the material.
On the evening of the 2nd, the material trading service platform VJshi.com issued an apology statement: "After verification, the contributor Gao Moumou provided non-original works. Our company has banned his account and terminated cooperation. The right holders and related parties apologize, and are currently actively communicating with all parties, and will assume their due responsibilities."
In the early morning of September 3, "Wang Strawberry ss" responded to the apologies of all parties: "First of all, thank you for your support, I believe that the eyes of the masses are discerning, and I also believe in the justice of the law. Effective communication, since the infringement has become a fact, I strongly urge them to stop the infringement immediately and make a public apology!" On September 5, the 8-second screen of the alleged infringement in the opening title of "Sweeping Black Storm" was deleted by the platform.
In fact, it is not uncommon for titles to be suspected of copyright infringement.
In June 2022, a civil judgment was published on the trial information website of the Beijing court. The judgment showed that Fan claimed that his works published on Tuchong.com and Weibo were used as the opening title and six parts of "Strategy of Yanxi Palace" without consent. The collection of extra chapters constitutes commercial use. Based on this, Fan sued three companies: Beijing iQiyi Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Yuyue Film and Television Investment Co., Ltd., and Dongyang Huanyu Film and Television Culture Co., Ltd.
After the trial, the court ruled that the three defendant companies should pay Fan a total of 60,000 yuan in economic losses, and Dongyang Huanyu Film and Television Culture Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Xingyue Film and Television Investment Co., Ltd. should publish an apology statement in the People's Court newspaper to apologize to the plaintiff.
Last year, there were still some hit dramas that got into controversy over the opening credits.
After "Xiao Min's Home" was broadcast, some netizens questioned that multiple scenes in the opening credits of the drama were similar to the opening credits of the American drama "Murder in an Apartment Building".
During the broadcast of "Basic Law of Genius", the original illustrator "LOST7_" posted on Weibo, saying that while watching the show, he accidentally discovered that the title of the show is similar to his own work, "I don't know if I'm too sensitive, anyway It feels weird."
At the same time, "LOST7_" released a continuous storyboard comparison of the illustrations and the titles of the TV series, and the similarity caused heated discussions among netizens.
Whether knowledge is infringing or not, the principle of determination is particular
In judicial practice, to determine whether a work is infringing, it is necessary to make a judgment based on the specific situation.
At present, to determine whether an artistic work is infringing, the principle of "contact + substantial similarity" is generally adopted.
Contact refers to whether the infringer has contacted the work of the infringed person or has the possibility of contact.
If the infringed work has been published, generally speaking, it will be deemed that there is a possibility of access.
If the infringed work has not yet been published, it depends on the author of the alleged infringing work whether there is any other possibility of accessing the infringed work.
For example, whether there is any relationship between it or its related subjects and the author of the infringed work, such as contribution, cooperation and negotiation.
Substantial similarity means that after comparison, the original expressions of the infringing work and the infringed work are the same or substantially similar.
When comparing, it is necessary to eliminate the thoughts and ideas contained in the infringed works that are not protected by the copyright law, as well as elements that belong to the public domain.
In order to prevent the risk of infringement, many experts suggested that title production companies should abide by the relevant rules of copyright law and respect originality.
If you use other people's original works, use them within a reasonable range or borrow ideas for re-creation, instead of copying or excessively using other people's works.
If the copyright owner finds that his work has been infringed, he should also protect his own rights in a timely manner, such as resorting to the law for rights protection.
Long Wenmao, an expert in intellectual property law and a professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, once said in an interview that copyright law protects expressions, not ideas.
General reference refers to the use of the ideological level of other people's works.
Ideas specifically include sub-concepts such as ideas, ideas, and ideas, which belong to the public domain and can be used by anyone.
However, in judicial practice, the boundary between thought and expression needs to be judged on a case-by-case basis, comprehensively judging the relationship between characters, the occurrence and direction of a specific plot, its relationship with the overall plot, etc. It will be easily known, often through litigation.
Long Wenmao suggested that, from the perspective of copyright law, if there are references in the opening and closing credits of TV dramas, the producers should pay attention to whether they are substantially similar, comprehensively analyze the relationship between characters, plots and other elements, and consider whether the borrowed parts belong to the original author's original expression.
Of course, it is best to have legal professionals join in the production process to give professional advice.
The production of opening titles is generally not taken seriously
For a long time, as a part of post-production, title production is often not taken seriously by film and television drama producers, and it is rare to arrange special personnel for production.
Usually, the title will be packaged and outsourced to other companies for production together with post-production operations such as color correction and posters.
However, in recent years, platforms, creators, and audiences have paid more and more attention to the opening title, and have explored its functions in presenting famous scenes in the plot and establishing the temperament of the whole drama.
Therefore, in the planning stage of film and television dramas, it sometimes happens that the drama creators allocate a separate budget to arrange professional companies to produce titles.
According to a reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News from industry insiders, a relatively complete industrialized production process has been formed for title production.
For example, the pre-production process has been optimized to be very rigorous: First, the title production team will receive the script outline and even some film sources at the beginning of contact with the project, and conduct preliminary communication with the drama production team.
Afterwards, the title production team will make a design proposal, modify the proposal according to the requirements of the show, and determine the final style and direction.
Finally, the title production team will further clarify the design ideas, logic, script, etc. to the show side, and enter the execution level.
It is reported that for the opening title with a duration of about 1 minute and 30 seconds, the actual production cycle is about one month if the previous planning proposals, detail adjustments and other processes are excluded.
In terms of technical classification, there are multiple technologies such as synthesis, hand-painting, and CG to choose from; in terms of production methods, it can be divided into editing based on the content shots and atmosphere shots of the work itself, and using 3D, 2D and other technologies means to restore the scene.
Undoubtedly, with the same manpower allocation, the more original and technical title project is more difficult and time-consuming to produce.
The external problems faced by title production are usually limited budget and tight production cycle.
In the film and television industry, it is not easy to find professional counterparts who are responsible for title production, and the cultivation and maintenance of these talents mostly rely on post-production companies.
It has high requirements for the comprehensive ability of talents: it not only needs to be sensitive to the trend of the entertainment industry, but also needs to be proficient in video, animation, hand-painting and other related technologies.
When talents and abilities are lacking, title creators will often learn from other mature titles, and find materials on open source material websites, or find materials in copyright material libraries, and put them into title production.
If the producer lacks the awareness of gatekeeping when screening the source of the material, and uses copyright material without authorization, it will easily lead to copyright disputes.
Yangcheng Evening News reporter Gong Weifeng