Does Delayed Photo Video Constitute Electrical Artworks? 

Considering that the sale of documents containing "Delayed Beijing" (hereinafter referred to as the video) in Taobao Store by Shentu Moumou violated his copyright, Zhou Moumou sued Shentu Moumou to Beijing Internet Court, demanding that the other party immediately delete the infringement content and links on Taobao Store and Baidu Yunpan, apologize for the loss and compensate the economy. Losses and reasonable expenditure for rights protection totaling 115 270 yuan.

On August 12, the Beijing Internet Court made a first-instance judgment in this case, judging that the video in question constituted a kind of electrical artworks. The defendant's act of selling video files in Taobao shop violated Zhou's right of signature and the right of information network dissemination. The defendant was sentenced to publish a statement of apology on the home page of Taobao Store for three consecutive days, and to compensate the plaintiff for his economic losses and reasonable expenditure on safeguarding his rights totaling 8000 yuan.

The plaintiff, Zhou Mou-mou, complained that he was a well-known domestic delayed photographer and a member of China Delayed Photography Union. The plaintiff selected 71 different scenes in Beijing to shoot 5392 single photographs, and connected them in series at fixed intervals to give them dynamic, then edited and synthesized videos with software in the later stage. Video involved in the case constitutes a work created by a method similar to filming, and its copyright is originally acquired by the plaintiff. Without the plaintiff's permission, the defendant sells the documents containing the video in Taobao stores. After the plaintiff's complaint, the defendant changes the links and continues to sell. Its behavior constitutes repeated infringement. The plaintiff believed that the above infringement infringed the plaintiff's legitimate rights and interests, so the plaintiff told the court.

Zhou Mou-mou submitted photographs and certificates of work registration as the video material involved, which can prove that Zhou Mou-mou is the author of the video involved and has copyright in the video involved.

Shen Tu Mou-mou sells documents containing the videos involved to the public through Taobao Store, which does not indicate the identity of the author and infringes Zhou Mou-mou's right of signature for the videos involved.

Delayed photography, if it can reflect the producer's individualized expression in material selection and content expression and meet the requirements of originality, constitutes a kind of electrical artworks and is protected by the Copyright Law of our country. Without the permission of the copyright owner, the act of selling delayed photographic works on the Internet platform will infringes upon the relevant rights and interests of the copyright owner, and shall bear corresponding legal liability according to law.

October 13, 2019

Source: Beijing Internet Court

Photo from: 699pic.com