The novel "Legend of Mi Yue" was charged with plagiarizing TV scripts. Huaer Film and Television claimed 20 million yuan.

On July 5, it was reported that Dongyang City Leshi Huaer Film and Television Culture Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as Huaer Film and Television Company) sued Jiang Shengnan, author of the novel "Legend of Mi Yue" and screenwriter of the TV series "Legend of Mi Yue", and publisher and seller of the novel "Legend of Mi Yue" to the court for copyright infringement, claiming compensation of 20 million yuan.

Original title: Le Hua 'er Film and Television sues "Legend of Mi Yue" for allegedly copying the TV script for the novel of the same name

. On July 5, it was reported that Dongyang City Le Hua' er Film and Television Culture Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as Hua 'er Film and Television Company) accused Jiang Shengnan, author of the novel "Legend of Mi Yue" and screenwriter of the TV series "Legend of Mi Yue", publisher and seller of the novel "Legend of Mi Yue", filed a lawsuit with the court for compensation of 20 million yuan. A few days ago, the Haidian Court formally accepted the case.

Huaer Film and Television Company claimed that on June 16, 2009 and July 1, 2010, Jiang Shengnan published the preface to the novel "Empress Dowager Qin" and the three chapters of "Destiny","Born" and "Xiang Shi" on the Internet respectively. The novel totals about 7000 words. Later, through judgment and transfer, Huaer Film and Television Company and Jiang Shengnan became both parties to the "TV Drama Script Creation Contract" series of contracts. The contract stipulates: Huaer Film and Television Company hired Jiang Shengnan as the screenwriter and commissioned the script of the TV series "Legend of Mi Yue". Jiang Shengnan is the creative person of the original work ("Empress Dowager Qin") of the TV series "Legend of Mi Yue". He owns the creative copyright of the original work and has the right to publish and publish the original novel. Jiang Shengnan is willing to accept the commission and create and modify the TV drama script in accordance with the wishes of Huaer Film and Television Company; Huaer Film and Television Company is the copyright owner of the drama drama outline, character biographies and script of "The Legend of Mi Yue" commissioned by Jiang Shengnan to create, and is permanently entitled to all intellectual achievements formed in the process of adaptation and creation and all copyrights and derivatives of TV drama scripts, movie scripts, TV series works, and movie works. As the screenwriter of the show, Jiang Shengnan enjoys the authorship of the screenwriter in the opening of the TV series; the contract also stipulates the screenwriter's remuneration and payment method and other related contents.

On September 11, 2012, Jiang Shengnan submitted the first draft of the diversity outline and character list of the TV series "Legend of Mi Yue" to producer Cao Ping via email. Since then, Jiang Shengnan successively submitted screenplay related works to Cao Ping via email. On March 15, 2013, Jiang Shengnan submitted the first draft of the script for the first episode of "The Legend of Mi Yue", and submitted the script for the 50th-53rd episodes on March 29, 2014. As of November 15, 2015, Huaer Film and Television Company and related companies have paid Jiang Shengnan all remuneration.

From August to November 2015, Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House Co., Ltd. published and distributed all six volumes of the novel "The Legend of Mi Yue" signed by "Jiang Shengnan". After comparison, it was found that the novel "The Legend of Mi Yue" published by Jiang Shengnan was not his original work "The Empress Dowager of Qin". Moreover, this novel is highly consistent with the character relationship and storyline of the TV series "The Legend of Mi Yue" commissioned by Jiang Shengnan by Huaer Film and Television Company. The content of some chapters is completely consistent with the corresponding content in the script of the TV series "Legend of Mi Yue".

When Huaer Film and Television Company commissioned Jiang Shengnan to write the script for "The Legend of Mi Yue", Jiang Shengnan made it clear that his original novel ("Empress Dowager Qin") had not been completed. When Huaer Film and Television Company entrusted Jiang Shengnan to create the outline, character biographies and script of the TV series "Legend of Mi Yue", because Jiang Shengnan did not have experience as a screenwriter of large-scale TV series, Huaer Film and Television Company had repeatedly discussed script creation with Jiang Shengnan since the beginning of creation. Director Zheng Xiaolong, producer Cao Ping, chief screenwriter Wang Xiaoping, senior screenwriters Li Xiaoming and Ren Yun discussed character design, drama conflicts, character relationships, story segments, A large number of opinions and suggestions were put forward on script revision and script creation skills. After repeated revisions, the TV script creation of "The Legend of Mi Yue" includes the common results of collective wisdom and collective labor. The expression content (a large number of plots) is original and constitutes an original work, rather than Jiang Shengnan's unfinished original novel ("The Empress Dowager").

Without the consent of Huaer Film and Television Company, Jiang Shengnan adapted the contents of the drama drama "Legend of Mi Yue", copyrighted by Huaer Film and Television Company, into the novel "Legend of Mi Yue", and copied part of the script work of the TV series "Legend of Mi Yue", and separately licensed the publication and distribution of the novel "Legend of Mi Yue" in the name of the novel author, and sold it in Zhongguancun Book Building and other places in Beijing. The above-mentioned behavior has seriously infringed on the copyright enjoyed by Huaer Film and Television Company in the outline, character biographies and script works of the TV series "Legend of Mi Yue". Jiang Shengnan and the publishing company obtained huge improper profits from the infringement, which also seriously damaged the legitimate interests of Huaer Film and Television Company. Therefore, the lawsuit demanded that the three defendants be ordered to immediately stop publishing, distributing and selling the novel "Legend of Mi Yue", compensate for the loss of 20 million yuan and bear relevant expenses.

Currently, the case is under further investigation.

Editor: Nancy