China News Finance, January 28 (Reporter Song Yusheng) The opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is imminent, and the topic of the Winter Olympics on the online platform continues to rise. The Beijing Intellectual Property Court recently reminded that while enjoying the huge traffic brought by the Winter Olympics, online platforms should also pay close attention to the risk of copyright infringement.
Infographic: Tourists skiing at Chongli's ski slopes. Photo by Zhai Yujia
Can the Winter Olympics program be freely disseminated on the Internet?
"Sporting events that meet the requirements of originality are audiovisual works." The Beijing Intellectual Property Court pointed out that in the production process of large-scale and important sports events such as the Olympic Games, a large number of lens techniques, montage techniques and editing techniques were used, and the individual choices and arrangements of creators such as cameras and choreographers were reflected in the shooting angle of the camera position, the switching of the lens, the selection of shooting scenes and objects, the selection of shooting screens, editing, arrangement and off-screen commentary, etc., which were original, belonged to audiovisual works, and were protected by the Copyright Law.
Therefore, the Winter Olympic games program can not be spread on the Internet at will.
The court clarified that the dissemination of winter Olympic games programs should obtain the permission of the relevant rights holders. According to the relevant provisions of the Mainland Copyright Law, sports events are used as audiovisual works, and their copyright is enjoyed by the producer. The producer who usually signs the name of a sports event program is the copyright owner.
In addition, in view of the fact that large-scale sports events usually have the right of broadcasting organizations to enjoy exclusive live broadcasts and other disseminated works, the dissemination of Winter Olympic games programs should not only obtain the copyright license of the producer, but also obtain the neighboring right license of the broadcasting organization that disseminates the sports event program. Broadcasting organizations have the right to prohibit others from retransmitting, recording and reproducing sports programs broadcast by them by wire or wireless means without their permission and disseminating them to the public through information networks.
The judge reminded that the act of live broadcasting or delaying the playback of the Winter Olympic games without the permission of the right holder constitutes copyright infringement.
The picture shows the "Green Winter Olympics" themed flower bed located in the northeast corner of Dongdan. Photo by Li Jun, a reporter from China News Network
Is it infringing to disseminate footage of a Winter Olympic programme?
So, is it suspected of infringement to disseminate clips of Winter Olympic games in the form of short videos?
According to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, in general, the act of disseminating clips from sports events includes the following two types: 1. Broadcast clips from sports event programs in the form of short videos; 2. Use clips from sports events in short videos produced by yourself.
If the above acts are not approved by the right holder, they may constitute copyright infringement. In the case of the latter kind of conduct, which may constitute fair use under special circumstances, but the constituent conditions for fair use in the Copyright Law need to be met, judicial practice will generally be judged in light of the nature and purpose of the use of the work, the nature of the work to be used, the quantity and quality of the part to be used, and the impact of use on the potential market or value of the work. However, judging from past judicial practice, it is generally difficult for clips of sports programs to be disseminated without permission to meet the above conditions for fair use.
Therefore, it is necessary to be cautious in disseminating the programs of the Winter Olympic Games and avoid infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of relevant rights holders.
Data chart: On January 11, the mascots of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, "Ice Pier" and "Snow Rongrong", appeared on Beijing Beichen Road. China News Service reporter Yi Haifei photographed
How should online platforms avoid the risk of copyright infringement?
During the Winter Olympics, the judge suggested that online platforms need to do the following in order to avoid the risk of copyright infringement as much as possible.
1. Do not broadcast sports event programs without permission; 2. Do not set links to websites that clearly provide sports event programs without permission; 3. Do not set up columns or special areas for sports event programs that are obviously unauthorized, and actively edit, sort out and recommend them; 4. Take necessary measures such as deleting, blocking, and disconnecting links against the infringing content in a timely manner after receiving the notice of the right holder; 5. Based on the nature and method of the services provided by themselves, the size of the possibility of infringement, and the information management capabilities they have, Actively take other reasonable measures, such as restricting the use of some functions by users who have repeatedly and committed a large number of infringements. (End)