Former Sohu executive jobbing Youku faces 50 million yuan in compensation Zhang Chaoyang: Video industry rules face bottom-line challenges again

Regarding the case that Ma Ke, former copyright director of Sohu Video, was arbitrated at a high price for allegedly violating the prohibition of competition, Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang said during a meeting of the newly produced "Hypnotist" that this is a rule issue, and the rule issue is not a small issue.

Original title Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang: Video industry rules are once again facing bottom-line challenges

. Regarding the fact that Ma Ke, former copyright owner of Sohu Video, was awarded a sky-high arbitration claim of nearly 50,000 yuan for allegedly violating the prohibition of competition, Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang said during the meeting of the newly self-made production "The Hypnotist" that this is a rule issue, and the rule issue is not a small issue.

Regarding how to understand the rules of the video industry, Zhang Chaoyang pointed out that the first is the rules of content:

"In fact, the scale of the entire video industry today can be traced back to the 'Anti-Piracy Alliance' launched by Sohu Video Group in 2009 to combat piracy. Based on a barbaric copyright model without rules, we began to establish a genuine operating model by respecting intellectual property rules. On this basis, the funds of various tycoons began to invest heavily, leading to the scale of today's industry. As a result, many companies that have not clearly seen the trend of changing industrial rules and have tested the bottom line of copyright have also failed on the road to copyright."

Zhang Chaoyang believes that although the "Marco Incident" has occurred in the video industry before, this time may become another turning point in the general trend of the video industry rules.

Zhang Chaoyang said that in the field of video content, any large online video company invests billions or tens of billions every year. At such a large scale, the issue of project and people rules has become increasingly prominent.

"The core investment in the online video industry, including the 'copyright procurement business' and the 'homemade drama business', if it is only handled by individual executives, the amount handled by that executive will reach billions or even tens of billions. How can rules guarantee the confidential commercial data and project development resources accumulated by huge amounts of money?" Zhang Chaoyang asked.

To this end, Zhang Chaoyang revealed that in addition to hoping to establish another bottom-line rule for a competition mechanism in the video industry through legal procedures, he is currently establishing an operating mechanism to invest billions and tens of billions of yuan in huge investment by a producer team and producer model.

According to the introduction, there will be corresponding reward mechanisms, credit systems, etc. around this producer team. For example, a producer who has done a good work will get extra points, and when he makes decisions later, his right to speak may be enhanced. Such a mechanism of combining individuals and teams will constantly make good producers rise.

"Huge investments and projects will not be accumulated for only one person, but to realize the rise of a group of producers, through the producer team and mechanism to ensure that self-produced products continue to produce excellent works," Zhang Chaoyang said.

Zhang Chaoyang revealed that because of the producer mechanism and team operation, all self-made projects are currently in normal operation. For example, several works last year will enter the second season this year, including "Forensic Qin Ming,""Heartless Master,""Dear Princess Disease," as well as "Assassin Biography,""Close-fitting School Flower" and so on; this year Sohu video will also carry out a number of brand-new theme production, including "hypnotized hypnotist,""painter" and so on, a large number of new IP and works online, in order to promote the strategic focus to production and self-control.

Recently, some media learned from the Beijing City Labor Arbitration Commission that Ma Xiaonan (Ma Ke), former general manager of Sohu Video Copyright Film and Television Center, has been filed by Sohu for arbitration on suspicion of violating "non-competition obligations," with a claim amount of up to 10 million. Currently, the arbitration application has been accepted and will be heard on June 13.

According to media reports, people familiar with the matter revealed that Ma Ke resigned from Sohu Video more than a month ago. The "Labor Contract" signed by her and Sohu clearly contains a "Non-Competition Agreement", which stipulates her non-competition obligations during and after her employment, as well as the corresponding non-competition economic compensation fee.

"According to current industry speculation, Marco did not abide by this agreement and seems to have joined Youku. This is obviously suspected of violating non-competition obligations," said a person familiar with the matter.

As a veteran employee of Sohu Video, Marco has always been valued by Sohu Video's management and has obtained a large amount of resources and opportunities to develop new businesses. Since a few years ago, with the support of Sohu Video Management, Marco has been responsible for two core businesses: "copyright procurement business" and "homemade drama business".

Editor: Nancy