One Million Compensation for Copyright Infringement on Operation Moscow
Recently, the People’s Court of Putuo District, Shanghai (hereinafter referred to as Putuo Court) made a first-instance judgment on the case in which Ai Mou sued the TV series Operation Moscow (hereinafter referred to as the TV series involved) produced by Digital Media Banner (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Banner Media) for copyright infringement. The court ordered Banner Media to compensate Ai Mou for economic losses of 1 million Yuan.
Ai Mou complained that since 1993, he has published more than 30 reports and documentary literary works on the investigation of the “Sino-Russian train robbery” cases. In 1995, the film The Train Robbers was adapted from his literary works. The TV series involved were adapted again from stories in the Sino-Russian Train Robbery, written and edited by himself. Thus, Ai Mou sued the TV series’ producer, Banner Media, and its play writers, Xu Mou, Hu Mou, and others to the court, requiring compensation of economic losses of 1 million Yuan.
Banner Media argued that the TV series involved was based on the narrative of the then police officer of the “China-Russia train robbery” case, Cheng Mou, who was the invited general consultant of the TV series and also the prototype of the protagonist “Chen Erli”, and the interviews with the police officers who participated in the case.
After the hearing, the court found that Cheng’s statement was similar to the content of the plaintiff’s works. His oral description was a repetition of the plaintiff’s works and could not constitute a new work. The defendant’s TV script and the plaintiff’s works have the same structures and plots, looking similar in general. From the perspective of overall effect, the defendant’s TV script is still the reproduction or adaptation of the plaintiff’s previous works, which infringes the plaintiff’s copyright. Accordingly, Putuo Court ordered Banner Media to compensate Ai Mou for economic losses of 1 million Yuan.
October 26, 2019
Source: epaper.iprchn.com
Photo from: 699pic.com
