Jin Yong sued Jiangnan for 5 million yuan in the infringement case of "The Teenagers Here"

After a fierce trial, the plaintiff expressed his willingness to mediate on the basis of the defendant stopping the infringement and apologizing, while the defendant Jiangnan hoped to negotiate with the plaintiff after the trial. The court decided to give all parties a one-month mediation period, and if mediation failed to be reached, the verdict would be pronounced on an alternative day.

Original title: The case of Jin Yong vs. Jiangnan, the first domestic case of fan works, opened

on the morning of the 25th. Zha Liangyong (pen name Jin Yong), known as the "first domestic case of fan works", vs. Yang Zhi (pen name Jiangnan), Beijing United Publishing Co., Ltd., Beijing Jingdian Bowei Cultural Media Co., Ltd., and Guangzhou Book Buying Center Co., Ltd., was heard in Tianhe Court. The plaintiff Jin Yong and the defendant Jiang Nan did not appear in court, and both parties entrusted agents ad litem to conduct the lawsuit. The trial lasted more than five hours, and consisted of court investigation, court debate, court mediation and final statement. The trial of the case has now come to an end. The plaintiff Jin Yong does not need to introduce too much. The defendant Jiang Nan's online introduction is a fantasy writer who entered the literary world with his novel "Youth Here" and was ranked first in the list of rich writers in China twice in 2013 and 2015.

In 2015, the plaintiff Jin Yong discovered that the defendant Jiang Nan used a large number of well-known characters from Jin Yong's novels, such as Guo Jing, Huang Rong, Linghu Chong, etc., in the novel "Youth Here"(hereinafter referred to as "Here") written by Jiang Nan without his consent.

Therefore, Jin Yong filed a lawsuit against Jiangnan, including the coordinator, publisher Beijing United Publishing Co., Ltd., Beijing Jingdian Bowei Cultural Media Co., Ltd., and Guangzhou Book Purchase Center Co., Ltd., which sold "Here", as defendants, demanding that the infringement be stopped and filed four demands with the court: 1. The fourth defendant immediately stopped the infringement of the plaintiff's copyright and unfair competition, stopped copying and distributing the novel "Here", and sealed up and destroyed the stock books; 2. Yang Zhi, Beijing United Publishing Co., Ltd. and Beijing Jingdian Bowei Cultural Media Co., Ltd. published an apology statement reviewed by the court in China Press and Sina.com, and publicly apologized to the plaintiff to eliminate the impact;3. Yang Zhi compensated the plaintiff for economic losses of RMB 5 million, and Beijing United Publishing Co., Ltd. and Beijing Jingdian Bowei Cultural Media Co., Ltd. bear joint liability within the scope of planning and publishing books; 4. The four defendants jointly compensated the plaintiff for the reasonable expenses incurred by him for rights protection of RMB 200,000.

What is fanwork?

"Doufan works" first emerged in animation culture. They refer to works that are re-created by borrowing elements such as characters, names, and character settings from well-known novels, comics, games, film and television dramas, etc., and belong to well-known works of others."Secondary creation". In "fan works", the names of characters will be consistent with those of other well-known works. Even the relationships between characters such as "lovers and old enemies" are similar to those of well-known works, but the storyline, time and space are still quite different from those of well-known works. At present, my country's law does not clearly stipulate whether "works of fellow artists" infringe, and there are very few similar cases. This time Jin Yong's lawsuit against Jiangnan has attracted widespread attention from society. The verdict of this case may have far-reaching significance for the future development of "fan works".

Editor: Nancy