"The Wandering Earth 2" was stolen the day after its release, who is selling and distributing pirated movies?

Chinanews.com, Beijing, April 4 Question: "The Wandering Earth 24" was stolen the day after its release, who is selling and spreading pirated movies?

Reporter Guo Chaokai

Movies such as "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Bear Haunted, Bear Core" were stolen the day after their release, and the number of Internet views of pirated movies often exceeded 2023 million... While the <> Spring Festival movies are selling well, the phenomenon of pirated resources circulating on the Internet is shocking.

Where do these pirated movies come from? What is the profit model behind it? The reporter's investigation found that in recent years, pirated films have formed a relatively complete black and gray industry chain, and piracy is only the most basic link in the industrial chain.

The Spring Festival movie was stolen the day after it was released

On January 2023, 1, a movie theater in Dandong City, Liaoning Province was playing the Spring Festival movie "Deep Sea", and a man was secretly recording with his mobile phone in a dim environment. The police of the Dandong City Public Security Bureau, who had been lurking for a long time, attacked the man and arrested him on the spot. This is the scene of this year's police investigation of the "30.1" case of stealing and spreading theater movies in the Spring Festival file.

Jiaozhou City Public Security Bureau case-handling police braved the snow to explore clues Photo provided by Jiaozhou City Public Security Bureau

In recent years, the Spring Festival file has been a period of high incidence of film piracy, so the public security organs are also waiting for it during the Spring Festival. On January 1 this year, less than three days before the release of the Spring Festival movie, the police in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, found that some websites and apps illegally distributed pirated film and television works such as "The Wandering Earth 24" and "Bear Haunted, Bear Core" and other pirated film and television works.

Under the guidance and support of the National Copyright Administration and the Ministry of Public Security, the special case team traced the origin of some of the pirated films seized and found that "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Manjiang Red" were pirated from a movie park in Zhenxing District, Dandong City, Liaoning Province, and "Bear Haunted, Accompany Me "Bear Core" was illegally recorded from a movie park in Jiaozhou City, Qingdao City, Shandong Province.

After receiving the clues, the Dandong City Public Security Bureau and the Jiaozhou City Public Security Bureau police quickly carried out the investigation of the case. After careful investigation, the police arrested Chen Mouming, a suspect who was committing pirated recording, on the spot in a theater in Dandong on January 1. On February 30, the Jiaozhou Municipal Public Security Bureau launched a net collection operation and arrested another record thief, Yang Moumou.

Jinhua City Public Security Bureau Handling the Case People's Police Interrogates Suspect Song Moudong Photo provided by the Jinhua City Public Security Bureau

Li Zhuocheng, a police officer of the Dandong City Public Security Bureau in Liaoning Province, who was responsible for investigating the case, told reporters that Chen Mouming had stolen four Spring Festival movies. On January 4, the day after the release of the Spring Festival movie, Chen Mouming used his mobile phone to steal "The Wandering Earth 1" and "Bear Haunted, Accompany Me "Bear Core", on January 22, he repeated the old trick to steal "Manjiang Hong", and on January 2, he illegally recorded "Deep Sea". Later, because the buyer reported that the pirated quality of "Deep Sea" was average, Chen Mouming went to the theater to reshoot it on January 1, which was only arrested by Dandong's case-handling police at the scene of the theft.

"The 'gun version' video uploaded by Chen Mouming was relatively good to watch, resulting in large-scale distribution. Our investigation found that most of the 'gun version' movies that received a lot of hits on the Internet during this period were recorded by Chen Mouming. Cao Yuyong, head of the food and drug crime investigation detachment of the Dandong City Public Security Bureau in Liaoning Province, said.

In fact, the captured Chen Mouming and Yang Moumou are only a key link in the "1.25" case of illegally recording and spreading theatrical films in the Spring Festival file.

In January this year, in accordance with the deployment requirements of the Ministry of Public Security, the public security organs of Zhejiang, Liaoning and Shandong Province worked closely together and, with the strong support of the copyright management departments, cracked the "1.1" case of pirated recording and dissemination of theatrical films during the Spring Festival, arrested 25 criminal suspects, destroyed 28 illegal websites, apps and online stores involved in the case, and seized more than 32,2 pirated copies of films such as "The Wandering Earth 45", "Manjiang Hong", "Bear Haunted: "Bear Core", and "Deep Sea". The case clarified all links from online to offline, from theater piracy to terminal transmission, achieved a full-chain crackdown, and promptly curbed the risk of pirated recording and dissemination of cinematic films during the Spring Festival.

Where do pirated movies come from?

The "1.25" case of pirated and disseminated theatrical films during the Spring Festival is not an isolated case. Every year's Spring Festival movie is a visual feast that has attracted much attention and expectation from the people, due to the good reputation and box office of the Spring Festival movie, and many people want to see it for the first time, resulting in the black and gray industry of pirated and sold "gun version" movies.

The police of the Dandong City Public Security Bureau arrested the suspect and searched his home. Photo courtesy of Dandong Public Security Bureau

Where do pirated movies come from? The reporter combed and found that in recent years, pirated movies that appeared on the market during the Spring Festival were mainly pirates using simple devices such as mobile phones or video cameras to steal recordings in theaters.

In the "1.25" case detected by the police this year, Chen Mouming, captured by the Dandong Public Security Bureau in Liaoning Province, and Yang Moumou, captured by the Jiaozhou Public Security Bureau in Shandong, did not make much profit. It is understood that Chen Mouming's profit from stealing 4 Spring Festival movies only made a profit of tens of yuan, while Yang Moumou's profit from stealing "Bear Haunted, Accompany Me "Bear Core" was only 18.8 yuan.

Cao Yuyong introduced that Chen Mouming edited and rendered the movie after stealing the recording, and then uploaded it to the online disk for sharing. The motive for the crime is to seek wealth, and although the profit is very small, the negative impact caused is great; The second motive of his crime is to satisfy his vanity psychology and vainly try to become an Internet big V.

The police handling the case pointed out that the pirated cinema film infringed on film and television copyrights, harmed the legitimate rights and interests of rights holders, and had a negative impact on the business environment of the film and television industry. For such crimes, the public security organs will continue to crack down severely in accordance with the law.

How does the pirated film industry chain work?

With the low threshold of piracy, the facilitation of online communication and the high return on returns, in recent years, the pirated film industry has formed a complete industrial chain from pirated films to resale and distribution, and multiple profits.

Lu Tao, a police officer from the Yongkang City Public Security Bureau in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, who participated in the detection of this year's "1.25" case of pirated films, analyzed that on the whole, the black and gray industry chain of pirated films can be roughly divided into three rings: the first link is responsible for secretly filming and recording movies, which is also the most basic link; The second link is integrated distribution and resale, where criminals buy a wide variety of pirated resources from multiple channels, integrate and then resell them to websites or individuals to earn the intermediate price; The third link is the dissemination of websites and apps, which usually attract traffic with "free" gimmicks, and then make profits through advertisements.

Dandong City Public Security Bureau case-handling police hold case scheduling meeting Photo courtesy of Dandong City Public Security Bureau

In the interview, the reporter found that these secretly filmed and pirated films will be "exhausted" by relevant personnel, which can be used for direct sales and cash, and can also be used as website drainage for profit.

For example, the criminal gang arrested by the police in Jiaozhou, Shandong Province, was directly monetized by selling pirated films. Sun Chao, an instructor of the Food and Drug Ring Investigation Brigade of the Jiaozhou City Public Security Bureau in Shandong Province, told reporters that Yang Moumou sold it to Luan Ximou for a low price of 18.8 yuan after illegally recording the movie "Bear Haunted, Accompany Me "Bear Core". Luan Ximou immediately sold the film through the store of his e-commerce platform. Since 2019, the gang led by Luan Xi has the characteristics of family and specialization, and since 9, its gang has registered 3000 stores on e-commerce platforms using their identity information and those of relatives and friends, selling more than 5,<> pirated movies and making a profit of more than <>,<> yuan by looking for offline help online and buying from peers in other stores.

These criminals usually use e-commerce stores, social platforms and other channels to sell pirated film and television resources to the public and websites. Although the transaction price of each order is not high, it accumulates into a lot, and the illegal income often ranges from tens of thousands to millions of yuan.

The operator of the pirated film and television website arrested by the Zhejiang Jinhua police Song Moudong made a profit by watching for free and attracting traffic from the website. Su Jian, deputy head of the Food and Drug Environmental Investigation Detachment of the Jinhua City Public Security Bureau in Zhejiang Province, told reporters that since April 2022, criminal suspect Song Dongdong has rented overseas servers to build multiple film and television websites and App clients, and has put a large number of nearly 4,10 film and television works on the built websites and App clients for profit. According to statistics, more than 5000,3500 registered members of the website and App client involved in the case, and more than <> million clicks on film and television.

Cracking down on film piracy takes a long time

In recent years, despite the increasing efforts of copyright protection and the public's awareness of copyright protection, the incidence of pirated films is still on the rise. It is urgent to crack down on crimes infringing on intellectual property rights, such as pirated cinematic films.

To this end, before the Spring Festival this year, the National Copyright Administration, the National Film Administration, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other four departments jointly deployed and carried out special work on copyright protection of theatrical films nationwide, preventing and severely cracking down on infringement and piracy of cinematic films in key stages such as the Spring Festival in advance.

Before and after the release of the Spring Festival film, local public security organs and relevant departments were waiting for and cracking down on infringement. In the investigation, the reporter found that Zhejiang Jinhua attaches great importance to the copyright protection of theatrical films. There are 14 large-scale scenic spots and film and television shooting bases in Hengdian Town, Jinhua City, more than 1400,10 well-known film and television enterprises are concentrated in the settlement, and a large number of film and television dramas are filmed in Hengdian every year, with more than <>,<> registered actors in "Hengdrift", known as "Chinese Hollywood".

Wang Puhong, deputy director of the Jinhua Municipal Public Security Bureau, said that in recent years, there have been many cases of infringement of film and television copyrights, which has also had a certain impact on the Hengdian film and television industry. To this end, based on the advantages of Hengdian film and television industry agglomeration, the Jinhua Municipal Public Security Bureau has taken special actions such as "Kunlun" and cracking down on the piracy and dissemination of theatrical films as the carrier to severely crack down on crimes of infringement of film and television copyrights in accordance with the law, detect a number of major and important cases with national influence, and make every effort to protect the legitimate rights of film and television investors.

At the beginning of this year, after the four departments deployed and carried out the special work of national cinema film copyright protection, Jinhua City quickly launched the "Jinhua Film and Television Copyright Protection Working Mechanism", and the Jinhua Municipal Public Security Bureau promptly worked with copyright, cultural tourism and other departments to increase the intensity of online inspections of Spring Festival films.

It was under the role of this working mechanism that the Jinhua police quickly discovered illegal websites and apps illegally disseminating Spring Festival film and television works such as "The Wandering Earth 2", and destroyed 32 illegal websites, apps and online stores involved in the case, promptly curbing the risk of pirated recording and dissemination of Spring Festival cinema films.

In fact, pirated films involve many links such as secretly filming and illegal dissemination, and it is quite difficult to govern. On the one hand, criminals do not hesitate to take risks in order to make profits, on the other hand, some members of the public have weak awareness of intellectual property protection, and their legal awareness needs to be improved.

The Jinhua City Public Security Bureau arrested Song Moudong, the operator of a pirated film and television website, Courtesy of the Jinhua City Public Security Bureau

Some lawyers pointed out that, strictly speaking, every netizen who paid to purchase and disseminate infringing images constituted a direct infringement of the film's copyright and infringed the film's right to information network dissemination. However, in practice, such hidden and large-scale violations are difficult to comprehensively monitor and root out. It is difficult to suppress individuals alone, and more importantly, it is necessary to cut off their transmission channels and crack down on the profit models and mechanisms behind them.

The formation of the phenomenon of pirated films is not a "one-day cold". Cracking down on crimes of copyright infringement of film and television is a systematic project, which requires the cooperation and comprehensive management of multiple departments such as public security, copyright, film and television, and cultural tourism. The governance of pirated and pirated films should not only pay attention to the concentrated efforts of special nodes such as the Spring Festival file, but also need to continue to work hard for a long time. (End)