Hotspot · Analysis

"Is this melon ripe?" - The verdict of the first national film and television drama dialogue voice rights case

A game software called "Watermelon Stall vs. Watermelon Buyer" used his voice from a classic episode of the TV series "Conquer" without Sun Honglei's consent. Sun Honglei sued the developer and supplier of the game in court.

On October 13, 2023, the Chengdu Railway Transport First Court (Chengdu Internet Court) ruled in favor of the plaintiff Sun Honglei in this case. The game developer and supplier apologized to Sun Honglei and compensated him for economic losses of 30000 yuan, but did not support his claim for infringement of his personal rights.

Sun Honglei sued that the two defendants, without their authorization, developed and designed the game for profit, which objectively constituted an infringement of their voice rights. In addition, the use of the plaintiff's personality elements in this game to shape a bad character image also infringed on the plaintiff's general personality rights. He requested the court to order the two defendants to publicly apologize and compensate the plaintiff for economic losses and mental damages.

The First Court of Chengdu Railway Transport, after trial, found that the voice and portrait of a natural person, as a symbol of the personality of a natural person, have the attribute of personality rights. The two defendants used their voices in games developed, produced, and operated without the consent of Sun Honglei himself or the authorization of the copyright owner of the film and television works licensed by Sun Honglei, which constitutes infringement of sound rights. However, the character design in the game comes from the character settings in film and television works, and there is no significant deviation from the original drama settings in the game production. Objectively speaking, the game characters involved in the case are directed towards characters in film and television dramas. The general public's rational cognition does not recognize the antagonistic image of the game characters as Sun Honglei's own social understanding and evaluation. Based on the interruption of the identification pointing relationship, it does not constitute a general infringement of personality rights.

In recent years, film and television works with anti crime themes have frequently appeared on the screen, and the classic lines in them have made the audience talk about them in their spare time. The film and television drama "Conquer" was released in 2003, pioneering the focus on depicting criminals. At that time, its popularity was no less than that of this year's "Fury", and actor Sun Honglei became famous as a result of the drama, The classic lines have been constantly used for ridicule and re creation over the past 20 years. But in fact, sound rights have been explicitly protected by law.

Article 1023 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China clearly stipulates that for the licensed use of names, etc., relevant provisions on the application of portrait licensing shall be followed. The protection of the voice of natural persons shall refer to the relevant provisions on the protection of portrait rights.

The implementation of laws and regulations leads to the rule of the country, and the prosperity of culture leads to the prosperity of the country. In today's society of building a socialist rule of law and emphasizing human rights, we should fully respect human rights. The right to voice is an exclusive right enjoyed by natural persons. Anyone who uses the voice of others without permission and obtains benefits for commercial or improper profit purposes should bear corresponding legal responsibilities.

Industry · New Policies

"Several Measures to Further Promote the Development of the Advertising Industry (Draft for Public Consultation)"

On September 26, 2023, the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation announced the "Several Measures to Further Promote the Development of the Advertising Industry (Draft for Public Solicitation of Opinions)".

The "Several Measures" involve a total of 10 measures, mainly revising and improving guidelines, enhancing risk control capabilities, solving the financing difficulties of advertising enterprises, encouraging advertising enterprises to apply for high-tech enterprise recognition, supporting advertising enterprises to cooperate with relevant manufacturing enterprises, actively exploring the integration and development model of the two industries, actively promoting the transformation and development of the advertising industry, and encouraging each district to build advertising industry parks with idle land and spatial resources in stock.

Notice on Implementing Several Measures to Release the Potential of Tourism Consumption and Promote High Quality Development of the Tourism Industry

On October 17th, the website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a notice on implementing several measures to unleash the potential of tourism consumption and promote high-quality development of the tourism industry.

The notice consists of five items, which clearly state the need to stimulate and guide more social forces to engage in innovative practices in the development of the tourism industry, and focus on solving the difficult problems that have long hindered the high-quality development of the tourism industry; For policy measures involving multiple departmental functions, such as actively developing ecotourism products, optimizing tourism infrastructure, revitalizing idle tourism projects, adjusting and optimizing scenic area management, strengthening inbound tourism work, supporting tourism enterprise development, expanding financing channels, and strengthening land security, it is necessary to strengthen communication and coordination with relevant departments, take the initiative, and actively coordinate with them to solve difficulties and blockages in the policy implementation process, Connect the last mile of policy implementation.

Announcement on Relevant Tax Policies for the Conversion of Business oriented Cultural Institutions into Enterprises in the Continuation of Cultural System Reform

On October 25th, the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation, and other three departments jointly issued a notice on the relevant tax policies for the transformation of business oriented cultural institutions into enterprises in the continuation of cultural system reform. The tax policies stipulated in the notice will be implemented until December 31, 2027.

The Announcement clarifies multiple tax preferential policies: if a business oriented cultural institution is converted into an enterprise, it shall be exempt from corporate income tax for five years from the date of registration; Cultural units that have been converted into enterprises through the allocation of public funds by the financial department shall be exempt from property tax on their self used properties within five years from the date of registration; The distribution and printing business of Party newspapers and Party magazines, as well as their corresponding operating assets, are separated and established as cultural enterprises. The distribution and printing income of Party newspapers and Party magazines obtained from the date of registration are exempt from value-added tax. The announcement also specifies that transformed cultural enterprises that enjoy tax preferential policies should meet five conditions at the same time.