Is the title of "Rage" suspected of plagiarism and infringement?

"The first hit drama in 2023 was" Rage Rage, "which has seen a surge in ratings and public praise since its launch.". Recently, however, the topic of "the title of a furious movie was accused of plagiarism" has become a hot topic in the search. Some netizens questioned the plagiarism of the documentary "The Innocence Files" in the title of the movie, which has triggered widespread discussion about the topic of "plagiarism" from all walks of life.

The opening shot of "Rapids" uses a contrast method to divide the portrait photo of the character into four fragments, and then the screen is divided into two, corresponding to two tones, indicating the identity changes of the character in different periods. Some netizens believe that there are similarities between this composition method and the color tone of the picture and the documentary "Innocent Archives".

"Innocent Archives" opening screenshot 1

Screenshot 2 of the opening film of "Raging Wind"

From the comparison of the titles, there are indeed similarities between the two, but from the perspective of judicial practice, it is not so simple to judge whether the infringement is established. In current judicial practice, "possibility of contact"+"substantial similarity" is the main method for determining copyright infringement in judicial practice.

"Possibility of contact" refers to whether there is a possibility of "intentional" similarity between the suspected infringing work and the original work. Generally speaking, if the infringing work has been publicly published, it will be deemed to have a possibility of contact. If the infringing work has not yet been published, it depends on the author of the alleged infringing work and whether there is any other possibility of contacting the infringing work. In this case, the public release of the documentary "Innocent Archives" precedes, and practitioners in the film and television industry may have seen the documentary before, resulting in a "possibility of contact".

"Substantial similarity" refers to the fact that the original expressions of the infringing work and the infringed work are identical or substantially similar through comparison. Of course, when comparing, it is necessary to first remove the ideas, creativity, and other content not protected by copyright law contained in the infringing work, as well as elements belonging to the public domain. In this case, some people believe that the segmentation method of two images has become a common art technique in art works, just like the image processing technology; Others believe that the two pictures are identical in tone and composition; Some people believe that some of the content has certain similarities, but whether it constitutes infringement is controversial and needs to be recognized by a professional identification agency. The author prefers the third view.

According to Article 52 of the Copyright Law, if the title of "Rage" is identified as an infringement, the infringer may have to bear civil liabilities such as stopping the infringement, eliminating the impact, apologizing, and compensating for losses.
In view of this, it is recommended that the producers (producers) of film and television dramas, as well as the production companies of film and television drama titles, comply with the relevant rules of the copyright law and respect originality. If you believe that the original work of others is very worthy of learning, you should also use or use ideas for re creation within a reasonable range, instead of copying or overusing the work of others, otherwise it may constitute an infringement and may affect the broadcast of the entire film and television work on the platform.

Industry · New Deal

Four departments continue to carry out special actions to crack down on the dissemination of stolen records of cinema films

On January 19th, the website of the National Copyright Administration announced that in order to implement the work deployment of the "Opinions on Strengthening Intellectual Property Protection" issued by the Central Office and the State Office, create a healthy and orderly viewing environment for the Spring Festival, and consolidate the copyright order in the film market, the relevant departments of the National Copyright Administration, the National Film Administration, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism have recently jointly deployed and carried out special work on copyright protection for cinematic films.

Relevant work arrangements: Focus on key cinema films, especially those included in the National Copyright Administration's copyright protection early warning list for key works during the Spring Festival. By issuing copyright warning prompts to major network service providers and cinema lines, strengthen daily law enforcement inspections and network patrols, increase copyright supervision and monitoring of cinemas, on-demand cinemas, private movie bars, and related network service providers, and strengthen measures such as investigating and handling cases of stolen recording and dissemination of cinema films, We will further maintain a good copyright order in the film market and continue to maintain a high-pressure situation in combating the spread of pirated recordings of cinema films.
"Notice on Regulating the Business Activities of Online Performance Dramas (Festivals) to Promote the Healthy and Orderly Development of the Industry"

On January 17th, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the "Notice on Regulating the Business Activities of Online Performance Dramas (Festivals) to Promote the Healthy and Orderly Development of the Industry", further standardizing the market order and guiding the healthy and orderly development of new formats.

There are seven articles in the "Notice". According to the "Notice", those who engage in the business activities of performing plays (festivals) in the form of "providing recorded audio and video of performing plays (festivals) through the Internet" should apply to the local provincial cultural and tourism authorities to obtain a network culture business license with a business scope that includes "online performing plays (festivals).". For the purpose of making profits and providing live performances (festivals) to the public in real time through the Internet, approval procedures should be handled in accordance with the relevant regulations on the management of commercial performances. Business entities that provide imported online performance dramas (festivals) for purposes shall report to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for content review, and can only provide them to users after passing the content review.

"Notice on Optimizing the Management Policy for Commercial Performances Involving Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan"

On January 16th, the website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the "Notice on Optimizing the Management Policy for Commercial Performances Involving Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan".

The Notice clearly stated that, according to the requirements of the General Plan on the Implementation of "Class B B Control" for novel coronavirus Infection and the Notice on Measures to Optimize the Communication between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, the local cultural and tourism administrative departments will resume the acceptance and approval of commercial performances involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan from February 16, 2023. Suspend the new approval of foreign-related commercial performance activities (except for those with performers already in China).

"Compliance Guidelines for Advertisements of Drugs, Medical Devices, Health Food, and Prescription Food for Special Medical Purposes in Beijing"

On January 13, the website of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Supervision announced the "Compliance Guidelines for Advertisements of Drugs, Medical Devices, Health Food, and Formulated Foods for Special Medical Purposes in Beijing".

The Guidelines are applicable to advertisers, advertising agents, advertising publishers, advertising spokespersons, and other advertising activity participants engaged in "three products and one device" advertising activities in the administrative region of Beijing, setting out 19 compliance standards, 15 negative lists, and two types of situations that in principle do not belong to "three products and one device" advertising and need to be carefully defined. The "Guidelines" propose that celebrities and other spokespersons should not be used to recommend or prove "three products and one device" advertisements.