You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 470 Lobbyist
Soon, everyone in China's Internet industry knew about this big news, and Penguin lost the case.

As colleagues, we can’t say we feel sorry for the penguin’s unfortunate experience, but we can certainly say we’re celebrating.

Penguin, you've come to this day!
Early domestic Internet companies all started by learning from each other and paying tribute to each other. Crows are all black, and the eldest brother will not criticize the second brother.

But it is the first Internet company to be as hated as Penguin.

QQ itself started out by imitating OICQ. It quickly rose to become the king of domestic instant messaging software in the competition with its peers, defeating a number of competitors.

In 2003, Lianzhong, which mainly focused on board games, was the world's largest casual game platform at the time.

With 1500 million registered users, million monthly active users, and annual revenue exceeding million yuan, it became one of the three giants in the casual game market in its early days.

At that time, the reputation of Lianzhong, Bianfeng and Zhongyou was no less than that of BAT later, and their influence was huge.

Then, this year, Penguin, unable to hold back, launched the QQ gaming platform, imitating Lianzhong and specializing in chess and card games.

Faced with Penguin's sneak attack, 联众 was caught off guard and soon lost its throne as the leader in casual games.

In 2005, Penguin set its sights on Kugou Music and launched QQ Music.

In the end, Kugou also lost its market share and could only helplessly publicly accuse its competitor QQ Music of "plagiarism" and its "poor competitive means and lack of innovation."

Sina founder Wang Zhidong once called Penguin Ma the "king of plagiarism" and said that he "plagiarized blatantly and openly."

At the same time, Wang Zhidong believes that one should "actively copy, plagiarize reasonably and properly, and not just copy one company, but copy everyone." This kind of copying means taking other people's good ideas and then adding one's own innovations to achieve success.

Penguin rarely responds directly to such doubts, because everyone is copying, and it's not just us.

Just because you can't compete with us, you accuse us of plagiarism. That doesn't make sense.

The market is all about winners and losers, and as a loser you can only vent your anger verbally.

But the penguin hit a wall this time, and immediately the parties who had been "seriously harmed" in the past began to gloat over the misfortune.

Should!
I told you to copy randomly, and now you've got into trouble!

Now let me see what you penguins will do!
Now everyone is waiting to see the penguin make a fool of himself, and the penguin is also in a state of panic.

Because they had never encountered such a thing before. In the past, when people accused Penguin of plagiarism, they just talked nonsense and cursed a few times, and no one really thought about filing a lawsuit.

After all, things like "plagiarism, imitation, reference, and tribute" are difficult to judge, and the relevant domestic laws are not perfect. What's more, you are also plagiarizing, so there is no reason to sue.

Facebook was the first to formally file a lawsuit and won.

Penguin had no plan in this regard at all and was thrown into disarray for a moment.

After the Silicon Valley court's ruling, people from Facebook publicly stated to reporters outside the court that the matter would be investigated to the end and that the "plagiarist" would be taught a profound lesson.

This is just the beginning. If the other party does not comply with the court's decision, Facebook will continue to file lawsuits in China, and they are already preparing to file lawsuits in Hong Kong.

Facing American reporters, a Facebook spokesperson denounced this infringement of intellectual property rights, believing that it seriously damaged the interests of American companies.

The American news media quickly reported the incident, and naturally, they reported it in great detail regarding the negative news involving China, using a combination of sarcasm, criticism and smearing.

Facebook also set the pace on the Internet, attacking Penguin non-stop.

Soon, the public opinion storm about this incident reached the domestic news media.

As if receiving a signal, Chinese media reporters also acted quickly and began to criticize the penguins.

Coupled with the companies that are unhappy with Penguin fanning the flames behind the scenes, public opinion is surprisingly consistent, "Penguin plagiarized, which is a heinous crime!"

After plagiarizing American Internet companies and being caught and directly sentenced in the American court, reporters have become even more unscrupulous when writing articles.

"The trend of copycats is prevalent. How many authentic scientific research products are there in China?"

"After years of joining the WTO, we still treat intellectual property as nothing. How far are we from the path of true rule of law?"

How to become an Internet giant by starting out by plagiarizing

"Real technology cannot be copied!"

"Penguin, the story of plagiarism and wealth!"

Reporters criticized Penguin from top to bottom and inside out, saying it had no respect for the law, was full of plagiarism, and was shameless.

What followed was a series of moves: what was happening in this country? I was confused and the question spread from one company, Penguin, to all companies in China, and from a single phenomenon to the entire country.

The Penguin was bombarded with wave after wave of criticism from the news media, and was so scolded that he dared not say a word.

Not only did the news media criticize them, but the Internet was full of condemnation.

From Sina Blog to Tianya Forum, from NetEase Portal to Sohu News, all are scolding Penguin for shameless plagiarism.

For a time, Penguin’s reputation was extremely bad and it was called “the shame of the Internet”.

At Penguin's internal meeting, Ma Huateng fell silent as he looked at the newspaper in his hand, and everyone below looked at each other in bewilderment.

Now no one knows what to do. The storm of public opinion has already appeared. They all know that even if CCTV helps them, it will not be able to reverse the situation.

What's more, they are really not in the right and there is no way to respond.

Now I can only play dead and deal with all kinds of changes by remaining unchanged.

The people in the public relations department were sweating profusely and were under a lot of pressure. Although the public relations departments of most companies are useless, they still have to perform well.

They have tried all the previous methods, such as paying the media to clean up the situation, hedging public opinion, and buying advertisements from newspapers to withdraw negative reports, but these methods are not working for the time being.

Public opinion is clearly unfavorable now, and the media will not seek trouble by playing against the wind.

Except for a few local newspapers that said a few "fair words", other media magazines reported negatively.

The person who is under more pressure than the public relations department is Yao Yiming, the head of QQ Farm. He is now dumbfounded and looks as pale as death.

A new set of art resources was accused of infringement, and then another set was accused of infringement, and then another set was still accused of infringement. Three sets of art resources in a row were accused of infringement, and this can no longer be described as coincidence.

Regardless of whether Facebook deliberately targeted Penguin this time, he cannot escape the responsibility as the primary person responsible.

At the very least, the QQ Farm project will be cancelled, and at worst, you will be fired.

Ma Huateng's voice was a little hoarse. "Is there any report that is favorable to us now?"

"Well, not yet." The head of the public relations department said in a low voice, "We are trying to contact several influential media outlets, and Southern Weekend is considering it."

"What's the budget?" Ma Huateng asked directly.

"Well, it's not about the money." The head of the PR department was a little embarrassed. "They criticized us for plagiarizing Facebook and asked us to admit our mistakes and apologize before considering writing a few neutral reports."

"Admit your mistakes?" Ma Huateng almost laughed out of anger. "What did we do wrong? Ask them to tell us what we did wrong?"

"Nan X Weekend feels that the Americans must be right. They are suing us because we must have done something wrong." The head of the public relations department was very depressed.

"Penguin won't apologize." Ma Huateng set the tone directly, "How much do they want to publish the manuscript?"

What a joke, apologizing is the same as admitting one's mistake, which means admitting that one has plagiarized.

"It's at least one and a half to two times the usual amount." The head of the public relations department said cautiously.

"Okay." Ma Huateng made the decision directly, "But it has to be quick."

“What about public opinion on the Internet?”

"Public opinion on the Internet is even more unfavorable to us, especially the reports of several portal websites are obviously biased." The head of the public relations department continued to report.

Ma Huateng suddenly asked, "What about the campus network? What's going on with the campus network?"

"They're quiet."

"No movement?" Ma Huateng was stunned. "What do you mean by no movement?"

The public relations department also found it strange. "There is very little discussion on the campus network about this matter. There are a few posts attacking and criticizing us, but judging from the posts, most of the content has nothing to do with us."

Ma Huateng didn't know what Qin Shaoyan was doing for a moment, and he became more and more unsure.

"What does the risk assessment say now?" Ma Huateng suppressed his doubts and continued to ask. Someone immediately replied, "The Silicon Valley court ruling is only a risk in public opinion. If Facebook continues to appeal to the Hong Kong court, the chances of winning are slim, but it will have a great impact on the company's stock price."

“It is said that Facebook is contacting domestic law firms and they are indeed preparing to initiate a lawsuit in domestic courts.”

Ma Huateng's face darkened. "Can we guarantee that we will win the lawsuit in the country?"

"That... I'm afraid not." The other party hesitated. "Considering the international public opinion and the political impact at this time, the court is under great pressure. There are too many off-court factors. I'm afraid the verdict will not be based solely on legal factors."

“Does that mean we might lose at home as well?” Ma Huateng found it a little unbelievable.

"Theoretically, the probability is relatively small, but we still do not recommend continuing with the strategy of litigation." The other party added, "Mr. Ma, try to settle if possible. This is the solution with the least loss."

I also want to reconcile, the conditions offered by the other party are too harsh.

At this time, someone suddenly suggested: "Should we temporarily close our QQ Farm?"

Zheng Zhihao immediately objected, "We can't shut it down. If we shut down QQ Farm at this time, people will think we are guilty."

Ma Huateng said nothing and fell into deep thought.

After the meeting, Yao Yiming followed Zheng Zhihao tremblingly, and the two walked into the elevator one after the other.

As soon as the elevator door closed, Zheng Zhihao picked up the documents in his hand and threw them at Yao Yiming, "Look at what you have done. If you can't even handle such a small matter, what's the point of having you!"

"Boss Zheng!" Yao Yiming cried, "I really don't know what's going on."

"You don't know?!" Zheng Zhihao was so angry that he laughed. "One set of infringement can be said to be an accident, two sets can be said to be coincidence, and how do you explain the collision of the three sets of art resources? Are you playing Infernal Affairs? Deliberately cheating the company?!"

"Boss Zheng, I really didn't!" Yao Yiming said in a pale voice, "My loyalty to the company and to you is evident to all!"

"I'm also investigating this matter. There must be a traitor in our company!"

Zheng Zhihao doesn't care about any traitors. Even if there is a traitor, it can't save the current situation of the company.

Even if you are really wronged, it is useless in the face of the trend of public opinion.

Public consensus is greater than the truth, and they know very well whether they have been wronged.

"I'll keep QQ Farm for you for the time being. If you can't achieve any results, you know what to do." Zheng Zhihao opened the elevator door and walked out.

Yao Yiming gnashed his teeth as he returned to the QQ Farm project team. He called the project team's lead artist over and criticized him, "You must give me an explanation. Is there a traitor?"

The lead artist cried out that she was wronged. "We were the first to launch the project and release the art resources. The overseas version of Facebook came out after us. How could it be possible that something that came out first plagiarized something else?"

"It doesn't make any sense logically, unless they can travel through time!"

Yao Yiming felt his head itching, and after thinking for a long time he had no clue. This matter really could not be blamed on art.

The QQ Farm project was indeed launched earlier than the time when Facebook obtained the license for the overseas version of Happy Farm, but Facebook did produce evidence to show that the art resources used in QQ Farm were plagiarized from them.

Because their product was registered earlier than QQ Farm, logically speaking, it is only possible that Campus Network predicted that they were going to plagiarize, accurately predicted the artistic style of QQ Farm, and then registered it in advance.

But if you want Mr. Ma to believe this kind of talk, it is better to make him believe that he is Qin Shihuang.

The chief artist was also puzzled. He called all his artists and asked, "You really haven't plagiarized, right? We are all family members. There is no need to hide it. I won't report it even if you admit it. I am simply curious."

“Absolutely no plagiarism!” The artists denied it one after another. “We swear to Deng that these art resources were all drawn by ourselves.”

In fact, these artists have already realized the truth, and there may be problems with the outsourcing they did.

But I definitely can't tell him. After all, the credit and bonus for the success of QQ Farm all went to my boss, and now that there are problems, I have to take the blame.

As for why they took the outsourced work and used it in the company's projects, is that strange?

It's like killing two birds with one stone.

It's so tiring to draw a new set. We are all workers, so we should slack off whenever we can.

As for whether it would cause copyright disputes or something, they never thought about it at all.

Besides, everyone knows Penguin’s corporate style.

Do you think a company that started out by borrowing will respect intellectual property rights?

Isn't that a joke?
If the company is like this, do you still expect employees to be aware of this?

After three sets of art designs collided in succession, the artists began to figure out what was going on.

However, outsourcing private work is an unspoken rule. You can do it but you can't say it out loud. It's enough for everyone to know it.

Zhu Mei probably guessed something, but he wouldn't say it out loud.

After all, he also does outsourcing. What if he encounters this situation in the future?
We are all in the same circle, so we need to have a tacit understanding when doing things.

……

Faced with the whirlpool of public opinion surrounding Penguin, Qin Shaoyan just watched the storm with a smile, sat back on his laurels, and waited for things to develop slowly.

Zhang Pingyi was puzzled. "How do you know that Penguin's artists will reuse the outsourced art resources we made for them? What if QQ Farm doesn't use our outsourced resources?"

"I just bet that they will be lazy. This is a weakness of human nature." Qin Shaoyan said with a smile, "I asked the artists of Penguin Company to make dozens of sets, including every art style. The probability of QQ Farm's choice of art style collide is very high."

"Besides, Facebook only needs to bring similar things to sue, it doesn't have to be exactly the same. Anyway, everything has been arranged, and the lawsuit will definitely win."

"Even if this doesn't happen, I still have other options."

Zhang Pingyi gave a thumbs up and said, "You are really insidious. You can even think of such a trick."

"This is their own fault. If they weren't greedy, this wouldn't have happened." Qin Shaoyan said confidently, "If Penguin wasn't greedy, our Happy Farm wouldn't have been sued."

At this time, Secretary Xiao Chen knocked on the door and reported, "Boss Qin, Boss Xiong is here."

Qin Shaoyan laughed, "The lobbyist is here."

Zhang Pingyi was a little curious, "Will you listen to Xiong Xiaoge's advice?"

"If the conditions offered by Penguin satisfy me, I will listen. I am a soft-hearted person." Qin Shaoyan made a gesture and asked his secretary Xiao Chen to leave.

Qin Shaoyan and Zhang Pingyi saw Xiong Xiaoge, who looked melancholy, in the reception room. "Why did Mr. Xiong think of us?"

"I never come to your temple without a reason. This time I'm here to lobby you." Xiong Xiaoge sighed, "Penguin CEO Ma asked me to ask you how to get the authorization for Happy Farm."

"There's no room for negotiation." Qin Shaoyan flatly refused. "Happy Farm is my hard work. There's no room for negotiation."

Xiong Xiaoge was very surprised, "You really don't want to sell it."

"I only authorize Facebook. Forget about others, especially Penguin." Qin Shaoyan said firmly, "Giving it to Facebook is to make money, but giving it to Penguin is to destroy the Great Wall."

"Besides, Happy Farm is related to the Social 2.0 strategy. I won't give Penguin a chance."

Xiong Xiaoge was a little surprised and looked at Qin Shaoyan for a few times, "Are you going to fight the penguin head-on?"

"Boss Xiong, you are wrong." Qin Shaoyan corrected him seriously, "Facebook is the one that attacked Penguin. It has nothing to do with me. I am the victim."

"Besides, Mr. Xiong, you are also a shareholder of Campus Network. Penguin's QQ Farm is undermining your interests. How did you convince yourself to lobby for someone who is undermining your interests?"

These words made Xiong Xiaoge feel very embarrassed, and he didn't want to get involved in this mess.

The two sides were fighting each other and he felt very uncomfortable being caught in the middle.

But the world of martial arts is not just about fighting and killing, it also involves human relationships and the ways of the world, and this is even more so in the business world.

"I was also asked to do this by someone else." Xiong Xiaoge simply got straight to the point, "What exactly do you want?"

"Pay compensation and apologize!" Qin Shaoyan replied, "Penguin must immediately shut down QQ Farm and promise not to plagiarize my work again, otherwise there will be no deal."

Xiong Xiaoge thought about it and asked, "What if Penguin doesn't agree?"

"Then let's start the war." Qin Shaoyan said without hesitation, "I will use Happy Farm to defeat QQ Farm head-on. Penguin will have to give up even if he doesn't want to."

"Admitting defeat now is to give them dignity. If they don't want to be decent, don't blame me."

(End of this chapter)