One of the big news in the past two days - Trump has been shot.
For a while, the photos and videos went viral on the Internet.
Among them, a group of photos of Trump raising his fist and bleeding from his ears are quite artistic and widely circulated.
However, many netizens found that when several domestic media reported relevant content, the source of the relevant photos was marked as Visual China.
Everyone knows that the photos were by Evan Vucci, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and chief photographer for the Associated Press in Washington, D.C. When did it become "Visual China"?
So, is this photo licensed by Visual China from Evan Vucci?
Someone asked about this matter, but Visual China customer service did not answer this question positively:
"The source of the picture is legitimate, the company's own copyrighted content or legally authorized by the contracted contributor or supplier organization. Visual China has made a clear statement on copyright issues in the agreement with the client, guaranteeing that the copyrighted images provided to the client enjoy legal copyright or have been legally authorized by the copyright owner. ”
As for the cost of using the photos, Visual China gave an accurate quote:
"The price doesn't have to be, it depends on the specific use. If it is a self-media article with pictures, it is used on social media (Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Toutiao and other social media platforms to publish and use), 2100 yuan per piece. ”
Visual China also "intimately" said: Buy one can be used on multiple platforms.
But even if you can't afford to pay for the copyright of this image, it doesn't mean you can rest easy. Visual China reminds that this money is only to buy the right to use copyright, and if it involves portrait rights and property rights, you have to do it yourself.
This is a little too ugly?
Many netizens said that this is the old problem of "Visual China" again?
As a company focusing on image copyright management and sales of visual materials, Visual China has cooperated with a large number of photographers and copyright agencies, and used technical means to provide photographers with convenience in rights protection, pricing and sales, and to ensure its own interests by maintaining the copyright protection system.
It should be said that the success of this business model is the result of the continuous increase in copyright protection in the mainland, the continuous improvement of the awareness of copyright protection in the whole society, and the continuous optimization of the copyright environment.
But a lot of things are originally good, and they are broken when they are played.
Visual China is now China's largest online copyright trading platform for visual content, but its reputation does not seem to be symmetrical with its size.
On April 11, 2019, Visual China sparked "public outrage" by including the first photo of a black hole in human history into its own gallery.
In August last year, photographer Dai Jianfeng posted that he was accused by Visual China of infringing on 173 photos and wanted to pay 80,000 yuan in compensation. When I opened it, I saw that the so-called "infringing photos" turned out to be my own work.
Nowadays, it is almost common in the industry to hear or encounter Visual China's image rights protection letters, especially those related to the digital content and media industry, and this model has also been criticized by netizens as "porcelain-touching" rights protection.
The essence of copyright protection is to protect the original expression of creators, and the purpose is to promote the full flow of more innovative ideas, but this does not mean that you can do whatever you want in the name of "protecting copyright", nor should it become a profiteering business for a few enterprises.
Article 22 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates 12 circumstances of fair use. Among them, the provisions that can be applied to the fair use of image copyright are:
(1) Using the published works of others for personal study, research or appreciation;
(2) For the purpose of introducing or commenting on a work or illustrating a certain issue, appropriately quoting the published works of others in the work;
(3) To inevitably reproduce or quote published works in newspapers, periodicals, radio stations, television stations and other media for the purpose of reporting current affairs;
(4) Translate or reproduce in small quantities published works for the purpose of classroom teaching or scientific research in schools, for the use of teaching or scientific research personnel, but must not publish or distribute them;
(5) The use of published works by state organs within a reasonable scope for the performance of their official duties;
(6) Libraries, archives, memorial halls, museums, art galleries, etc., reproduce works collected by the Library for the purpose of displaying or preserving editions;
(7) Copying, painting, photographing, or videotaping works of art set up or displayed in outdoor public places.
According to Visual China's previous operations, I wonder if this time will be another misunderstanding in the end?
Finally, the photo appeared on the cover of the latest issue of Time magazine in United States under the title "Attack On Trump".