text | Mouyu
"Please ask for help. Is there any blogger who has been sued by Tencent (variety show editing) for compensation of 1 million."
A post asking for help has attracted attention on the Internet. The huge compensation shocked netizens: " you ...Has it cut into Tencent’s main artery? ”
In fact, this is not the first scissor hand to ask for help in recent times.
From March to April, many Bilibili scissors posted articles online asking for help. They all claimed that they were sued by Tencent for copyright infringement due to their second-generation videos of film, television dramas and variety shows, and the amount of compensation ranged from 100,000 to 1 million. Secondary creation has always been a frequent source of controversy in the film and television industry. Its essence is the "war of words" between long videos and short videos.
With the vigorous development of short video platforms and content markets, the second creation of film and television content has ushered in an explosive period, but the accompanying copyright issues have become increasingly acute.
Tencent’s batch prosecution of Scissorhands will undoubtedly reveal the “grey area” of secondary innovation. Can this one-size-fits-all approach of blind box prosecution really protect the long video content ecosystem?
Scissorhands who were sued
On the homepage of "Scissorhands Tucao bot", an account gathered by two creators, you can see many Scissorhands who were sued by Tencent.
Earlier in mid-March, a scissor hand contributed: I want to ask for help. I recently received a court summons saying that the videos I edited on site B were sued for infringement by Tencent. I heard that this time they were sued in batches. Are there any sisters in the same situation as me?
Mouyu has learned that Scissorhands uploaded a single summary cut on station b in 2020. The protagonist of the video is the male lead 5 in a TV series broadcast by Tencent in 2016. Scissorhands is purely a star chaser "for Love to generate electricity” is not profitable.
However, 8 years after the original drama was broadcast and 4 years after the second video was uploaded, she suddenly received a court summons and was sued by Tencent for infringement, demanding compensation of 100,000 yuan. After
received the court summons, she learned that Tencent had collected evidence of video infringement in March 2022, and in October 2022, she received a call from station B, but station B did not tell the specific address at that time. A video was sued for infringement, not to mention that it was too late to delete it after collecting evidence.
Scissorhands learned from the plaintiff’s lawyer that as long as the second-generation video has the same plot as the original drama, even if the order is different, it is considered infringement, including the most common editing actions and music.
By April, she stated that the matter had been resolved and ended with her apology and settlement. Although she did not go to court, she still had to compensate those who deserved compensation. With the lawyer's mediation, the amount was reduced a bit, but the compensation fee plus lawyer's fees also cost. Tens of thousands of dollars.
’s experience has aroused widespread heated discussion, and she was right. Tencent is indeed “ suing in batches” this time.
Another contributor, Scissorhands 2, who recently received a court summons, was sued by Tencent for 500,000 yuan for reposting a personal scene of the lead actor in a drama on station b. The reason for the lawsuit was that " is popular among "" also benefited greatly from grabbing traffic during the broadcast period, but it had been several years since the original drama was aired when she uploaded the second video.
Scissorhands No. 2 also received a call from Bilibili in October 2022. When she learned that she was going to be sued by Tencent, she quickly deleted the video. She did not know until she received a court summons recently. After she received the call, she deleted the video. Tencent had already conducted evidence collection a few months before the video.
Judging from the self-reports of the two Scissorhands, the time of Tencent's evidence collection, Bilibili contact notification, and receipt of court summons almost overlapped. They were all separated by nearly two years, catching the two creators off guard.
In addition, there is also feedback from fans in the circle. Many second-generation videos edited in the early years have been removed from the shelves. They are all second-generation creations that have been made with hard work and energy. They are not just simple transfer cuts. The earliest video is even from 2017. .
Tencent’s wave of “settlement of accounts” has caused panic in the fandom community. The highest known claim amount of is 1 million , and many Scissorhands hastily removed the second-generation videos from the shelves.
However, objectively speaking, scissorhands do not need to be too panicked about Tencent’s high claims. According to a search of similar cases by Mouyu on the China Judgment Documents Online, Tencent’s past cases involving disputes over infringement of the right to disseminate works’ information network dissemination were mostly based on The settlement and withdrawal of the lawsuit ended . Even if it does go to court, the actual amount of damages awarded will not be too outrageous.
Take the infringement dispute case between Tencent and a Kuaishou TV drama account in July 2023 as an example. Tencent claimed a claim of up to 500,000 yuan, but in the end the court ruled that the defendant should pay Tencent an economic loss of 20,000 yuan and attorney fees of 3,000 yuan.
Tencent’s sky-high claim is most likely to deter the second generation Scissorhand. After all, long video copyright protection and short video infringement issues have always been on the minds of long video platforms represented by Tencent, iQiyi, and Youku. A thorn.
The Red and Black of Secondary Creation in Film and Television
Regarding secondary creation, it is actually difficult to give a clear definition.
In public perception, works produced by secondary processing of text, images, videos, music or other artistic works that already exist are called secondary creations, which is what we usually call secondary creations.
As for the second creation in the film and television industry, the most difficult problem to solve is whether the focus of is "secondary" or "creative" .
The first type focuses on the "two", mainly cutting into strips , directly cutting original film and television works into sections, or summarizing the plot clips of single characters in film and television dramas, and transferring them to short video platforms. This kind of cut Mainly around popular TV series and popular characters.
For example, during the hit season of "My World's Fireworks", due to the unpopularity of the male and female protagonists, Meng Yanchen, the second male lead, became popular. Many of Meng Yanchen's solo cut videos appeared on station B, and there were also short video platforms. There are many accounts that rely on watching plots quickly and watching dramas for free.
The other type focuses on "creation", focusing on mixed editing, reshaping the plot and complaining about explanations.
Mixed editing is a mixed editing of multiple film and television works around the same theme. There are many mixed cuts of portraits of beauties in ancient costumes on site b, and there are also mixed cuts of costumes of a certain star in multiple dramas. The playback effect is very good.
reshapes plot-style editing mainly to innovate film and television plots. For example, if they are not satisfied with the existing film and television dramas, Scissorhands casts its own characters and makes its own plot, Pan Yue and Zheng Hehui's version of Yang Caiwei's second-generation video in "Flower Room Order" It was once popular on Station B.
Or it is the casting creation of Internet IPs that have not yet been adapted into films. For example, the big IP "Rebirth: The Poison Queen" uses Xiao Zhan and Dilraba as the male and female protagonists. Film and television editing is performed based on the original content, and there are even Professional dubbing has been produced into a complete work, with a cumulative playback count of nearly 10 million.
The second creation of the Tucao commentary category is to commentate on existing film and television dramas and interpret the details of the dramas. It has both shortcomings and advantages, and has spawned a large number of up owners with millions of fans. The creation of second-generation videos such as
is relatively difficult, requiring scissor hands to have rich imagination and creativity, and also has certain requirements for editing skills.
In fact, the long video platform should focus on the first category of second-generation videos that focus on the "two".
The birth of a film and television drama is the hard work of actors, screenwriters, directors, producers, post-production and other film and television practitioners. The investment of time, energy and money is immeasurable.
And short videos are directly stolen and moved, which will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the artistic value and content dissemination of the original work , harming the interests of the entire industry, and will inevitably dampen the enthusiasm of practitioners, causing bad money to drive out good money. The emergence of this phenomenon has affected the content ecology of the entire film and television industry.
Therefore, it is not difficult to find that long-form video platforms and film and television companies represented by Aiyu Tengmang are cracking down on infringing second-generation videos more and more frequently. They are no longer limited to cutting videos, but also mixed-cut and commentary videos. It was also forced to be removed from the shelves.
There is nothing wrong with cracking down on pirated short videos and defending the copyright of original content. The only question is, is it really useful to remove second-generation videos from the shelves or even sue amateur Scissorhands?
one size fits all, is it the best approach?
On April 9, 2021, more than 50 film and television companies, including Noon Sunshine, Huace, Xinli, and Yaoke, joined forces with five video websites, including Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku, to issue a statement on the protection of film and television copyrights.
On April 22, 2021, more than 500 artists spoke out against short video infringement.
On April 28, 2021, the National Film Administration clearly strengthened film copyright protection and cracked down on short video infringement and piracy in accordance with the law.
Regarding the piracy and infringement issues and disputes caused by short video self-media operators, film and television companies, artists, official organizations, and every participant in the film and television production chain have expressed their attitude.
's statement is followed by action.
In October 2022, the first-instance verdict of the infringement case against Douyin produced by Tencent's "Yunnan Worm Valley" was released. The court ordered Douyin to compensate Tencent for economic losses and reasonable expenses of more than 32.4 million yuan.
In the same month, iQiyi sued Kuaishou for infringement of the broadcast of "Nirvana in Fire" and "Old Nine Gates" and the judgment document was made public. Kuaishou was ordered to compensate iQiyi for economic losses and reasonable expenses totaling more than 2.18 million yuan.
Objectively speaking, vigorously cracking down on infringing videos is useful in protecting the copyright of original content. The huge compensation has indeed deterred a large number of scissorists, but besides the one-size-fits-all approach, there are many issues worth thinking about.
On the one hand, second-generation videos have their own positive significance . Good second-generation videos can play a role in attracting traffic for original film and television dramas. For example, the mixed-edited video of "Awakening Age" became popular on station B, attracting a large number of young users. One-size-fits-all pursuit of dramas is actually not conducive to the vitality of the film and television industry.
On the other hand, the entire film and television industry is resisting short video infringement, but there is no exact standard for infringement. The boundaries of secondary creation have never been clear. What kind of short videos count as infringement? What percentage of citations counts as infringement? They are all problems that need to be solved.
has a clear definition of infringement. Allowing scissors to freely re-create within the boundaries is the best way to protect the ecology of long video content, rather than allowing the platform to make one decision. Monopoly is not conducive to development of the industry.
When long video content creators attribute the factors affecting the development of the industry to the external environment, they might as well consider the endogenous reasons.
Why do people watch the short videos of carrying and cutting strips and reading plots quickly? Is it because the long video content is heavily watered down and the essence is concentrated in these short videos of a few minutes?
Why are single-person cuts, face-changing cuts, and plot reshaping cuts so frequent? Is it because the plot, actors, and production of the original film and television work failed to satisfy the audience?
Why are the second-generation videos of commentaries spread so widely? Is it because there are too many flaws and the complaints have gone into the hearts of the audience?
Short video piracy will indeed have a great impact on the long video content ecology, but at the same time, user loss cannot be completely attributed to external reasons, because ultimately the quality of film and television works is the biggest reason that affects the industry ecology.
