The well -known anchor PDD apologized for covering songs in the live broadcast. Can the online platform still "sing and sing"?

Jimu Journalist Zhao Delong

Video editing He Chuan

On July 7, the former League of Legends player and well -known game anchor PDD claimed on Weibo that they had previously sued the infringement of "Xiangtian Bet 500 Years" during the live broadcast. Apologize.

In recent years, the live broadcast industry has risen, and singing in live broadcasts is the norm. Does a live cover song constitute infringement? Can the network platform still "sing if you want to sing" in the future? How should anchors avoid relevant legal risks? On July 8, Jimu Journalists interviewed a number of lawyers on the above issues and analyzed them based on relevant judicial cases.

Well -known anchors apologize to the copyright owner

On the afternoon of July 7, the anchor PDD apologized on his personal Weibo, saying that he had sang the infringement dispute caused by the song "Xiangtian Bet 500 Years" on the live broadcast and attracted everyone's attention. At present, after friendly communication with lawyers of Copyright, it has obtained the understanding of the author of "Xiangtian Borrowing Five hundred Years".

PDD said that he also solemnly apologized publicly, and he would pay more attention to copyright issues in the future. After this incident, I called on the anchors and video creators to pay attention to improving the awareness of the protection of music copyright in the live broadcast and content creation, respecting and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the copyright party, and jointly safeguarding the healthy and prosperous development of the music market.

(Picture source: PDD Weibo)

Public information shows that PDD is an E -sports player in the League of Legends project and has since become a game anchor. On June 30, PDD said in the live broadcast that he did not expect to be claimed because he sang casually in the live broadcast. On the live broadcast platform, PDD has 19.232 million followers.

According to media reports, "Xiangtian Borrow 500 Years" songwriter and famous composer Zhang Hongguang commissioned a lawyer to respond to the media, saying that PDD sang "Xiangtian Borrowing 500 Years" infringement in the live broadcast, It has reached an agreement with PDD and Wuhan Douyu Network Technology Co., Ltd..

PDD has attracted widespread attention after the voice of PDD, and it also takes a topic. With the rise of the live broadcast, the live broadcast session has become the norm for the audience. Then whether the live cover songs will be suspected of infringement in the live broadcast of the live broadcast, can the live broadcast room still "want to sing to sing? "Sing"?

Lawyer: The live broadcast room cannot "sing if you want to sing"

Regarding the above cases, many netizens sympathize with PDD. There are even opinions that cover songs can help the spread of the original work, help them expand their influence, and increase the popularity of the work.

Attorney Wang Wen, a lawyer of Zhejiang Rongzhe Law Firm, believes that according to Article 37 of the Copyright Law, performing the performance of other people's works, performers (actors and performance units) should obtain the consent of the copyright owner and pay for remuneration. The performance organizer organized the performance, and the organizer obtained the permission of the copyright owner and paid for it. In this case, the live singing itself does not involve infringement, and online anchors have not charged the audience of the live broadcast room, but the live broadcast room itself is a profit -making occasion, which will attract the audience to reward gifts. It belongs to the toll performance and cannot constitute a reasonable use stipulated in the Copyright Law, so the cover songs in the live broadcast constitute infringement.

Wang Wen believes that netizens cannot "sing if they want to sing" in the live broadcast room and social platforms. As long as they involve business behavior and do not belong to the scope of reasonable use of reasonable use, they must obtain the authorization of the right holder, otherwise it will constitute infringement.

PDD (Picture Source: PDD Weibo)

Attorney Tan Mindao, a law firm of Beijing Zhongwen (Xi'an) Law Firm, also said that the characteristics of live broadcasts determine the extensiveness and uncertainty of the audience of the live broadcast. Anyone can hear or see the webcast. The Internet anchor's improvisation on the Internet platform or adapting the song cover can make the majority of netizens get pastime and entertainment in a short period of time, thereby increasing the number of fans of the anchor, increasing the traffic of live viewing, and a certain reward. It can be said that the webcast is a business behavior of popularity, traffic and rewards through online performances, and therefore made a profit. Therefore, the behavior of covering other people's songs in the live broadcast can be identified as a certain profit purpose. It should be considered as a business behavior, not a reasonable use of other people's works. Therefore, we should obtain the consent of the copyright owner and pay a certain amount of remuneration. Lawyer Tan Mindao said that each music work condenses the time and energy of the copyright owner, ideological refinement, emotional expression, and knowledge display. protection of.

How to avoid infringement during the live broadcast? Lawyer Tan Mindao introduced that some webcast platforms have their own "song libraries" inside the platform system. The music in these "song libraries" has achieved the consent of the copyright owner, open to the Internet anchor for free, and network anchors can sing directly. If the bloggers want to sing happily, they must obtain the consent and permission of the copyright owner, otherwise, they may face the risk of infringement.

Does the live cover violate the "performance right"?

The online blogger live cover may be suspected of infringing the copyright of the copyright owner, but it is still controversial about whether the copyright owner's right to act during the live broadcast.

Jimu reporters noticed that the case of PDD live cover is not the first case. According to the referee document network, a video commentary platform, from November 2016 to August 2019, 12 online anchors including "Feng Timo", performed songs in the live broadcast of the live broadcast room, performed songs "Little Dance Frog" total 59 times; 57 of which are singing, once for a flute, and 1 dancing as accompaniment.

In the first instance of the court, in order to coordinate the relationship between the right to perform and other exclusive rights, the performance right should be defined as the "live performance" and "mechanical performance" that only controls the audience, but not controlled the original place that did not spread through the Internet that did not spread the original place of the first place that occurred. Public communication behavior. If the behavior of performing in the live broadcast and through the live broadcast method is included in the control scope of the performance right, the control scope of the rights of various rights in the copyright will cross overlap. The key to this communication approach is to publicly live through the Internet, and other live broadcast behaviors such as regular broadcasting and real -time broadcasting should be consistent with the types of rights. Therefore, the act of performing in the live broadcast and public broadcasting through the Internet should be included in the control scope of other rights stipulated in Article 10 (17) of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China. In this case, the network anchors involved in the case sang, played flute, and played accompaniment bands during the public live broadcast, all fell into the scope of the control of other rights in the plaintiff's copyright.

Zhang Weijun, director of the Intellectual Property and Competitive Law Research Center of Tongji University Law School, said in an interview with the media that as far as PDD covers a music work in the webcast, many people will feel that this is a performance behavior. This is in a popular sense. Nothing, but this is not the public performance controlled by the "performance right" in my country's copyright law. Broadcasting a cover of a music work in a webcast, which is no longer spreading a music work within a specific space, but spreading a work to all network users who are not on a specific site or specific space. This is greatly great Expand the scope of propagation. Since the live cover behavior is not controlled by the right to perform in my country's copyright law, it is naturally impossible to apply the rules of rights or exceptions to the right to perform.

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