Comment: Film and television drama titles touch porcelain, traffic, and integrity is lost

Cecilia Cheung's TV series "if, Love"

is often the first impression of a work on the public, and the creators put a lot of thought into naming the work. A widely spread and influential film title is the crystallization of the creator's wisdom. However, in today's film and television circle, there are many examples of imitating, borrowing or even copying other people's film titles. Is it the lack of legal provisions or the anomie of industry self-discipline?

it is easy to imitate the names of well-known works.

recently, the title of a new play "if, Love" was broadcast, and the title is exactly the same as Chen Kexin's film "if Love" except for the punctuation marks in the middle. I read the introduction to the plot, but the story is completely different. I wonder if the producer of the play has been authorized by Peter Chan and the original film copyright, including the screenwriter du Guowei, Nguyen Shisheng and others. If not, what is this?

in fact, "if, Love" is not valid as the title of the film. The punctuation in the middle of the original film "if Love" is used for the names of foreigners, or to separate two words. This title has a sense of design, forming a semantic expansion after the juxtaposition of "if" and "Love", while "if" is followed by "," is a stammer. This kind of change is better than no change, but if it has to be changed, does it mean that there is no skill for authorization?

Peter Chan's film "if Love"

the film title is too hot to list

before Han Han's "Breaking the Wind" was thought by moviegoers that the main plot came from Chen Kexin's old film "Brothers in distress". Chen Kexin said he didn't care. Chen Kexin's magnanimity may have encouraged more people rubbing against him.

in this respect, Chen Kexin is simply a rich mine for fans. His famous movie "Sweet Honey" soon made a TV series with the same name but a completely different story in China. "Dear" did not escape the fate of being copied. It was made into 28 TV series in 2013, and the story has nothing to do with the film.

before the movie "Taoist Down the Mountain", there was the online drama "Taoist going up the Mountain", and if there was "lost in Hong Kong", there was "lost in the alley", such as "Lamp blowing Notes", "Slam Dunk Bar, Masters", "successors from the Stars" and so on.

the names of some works are common words, such as "people reach middle age". The same name is also used in movies. Perhaps copyright owners can hardly be exclusive to the word "people reaching middle age". However, Ms. Chen Rong's novel is too famous, and then use these words to shoot film and television works, I think we should at least say hello to the original author, and those who understand things should pay others some fees. But as far as I know, the TV show didn't give it.

Fei Ming, Yan Gang and I once created the movie "agreed not to break up". Later, a company made a TV series "agreed not to break up" with this title. At first we were very angry, but later we found that some friends were involved. out of the face of our friends, we were more reluctant to bother. The complaint materials that had been prepared were kept in my car all the time and were not submitted to the SARFT. In fact, even if it is submitted, I don't know if the competent department will take care of it. But as an author, my heart is very unhappy, as disgusting as eating flies.

before I saw du Guowei negotiate with Gao Zhisen and the TV station, the "birth of actors" group adapted the script "I have a date with Spring" to perform without its permission, asking the program group to explain and apologize. Du Guowei is also the screenwriter of the movie "if Love". I don't know how he felt when he saw this TV series of the same name with a changed punctuation mark.

even if the one with the same name can't be protected, change a word, change a word, or even just change a punctuation.

the copyright Law still has a blind spot in the protection of film titles

the film and television circle is more opportunistic than one or two days. The copyright Law still has no specific protection for film title and play title, leaving a lot of room for scrubbing the edge. I specifically consulted the lawyer Wang Jun (Qiong Yao sued the lawyer in the case), and he told me that the general title of the film, the copyright Bureau has a document, tends to be unprotected and does not fall into the category of originality. But some unique names, such as "Why is my Sunshine silent", must be more protected than titles such as "country Love". If it can be confirmed that the film title is used to cause market confusion, misunderstanding, or obvious heat, it can be classified as unfair competition, and it is OK to file a lawsuit.

the new revised draft of the copyright Law is still not finalized. I suggest that the name of the work should be included in the scope of protection as an independent object of protection, and the act of rubbing film names should be clearly restricted and prohibited.

I have always felt that it is very important for the film and television industry to stress the law, but in addition to talking about the law, we should also talk about industry norms and professional ethics, and the loss of professional ethics and self-discipline is tantamount to a naked run of personality in full view of the public. I hope that such a streaking will encounter a cold wind as soon as possible.