Huayu started as a substitute director

Chapter 723: Change Again

At one time, Bilibili was involved in more than 200 lawsuits regarding intellectual property rights, and the number was still increasing.

The reason for the lawsuit is simple. These secondary creations, mixed-cut commentary videos have advertising revenue and playback income, and are profitable.

Moreover, a film or TV show has not just one creator narrating it, but many.

The value of Hollywood film and television copyrights is quite high, and if you lose an intellectual property lawsuit, you will have to pay a lot of money.

If we continue to pay compensation like this, we will definitely not be able to make up for it.

The reason why it has come to a lawsuit is that at this stage our country has a vague definition of copyright for secondary creative videos. There are no clear regulations on whether such editing and re-creation constitutes infringement.

However, this is not the end yet. The agent of Japanese anime has also filed a lawsuit against Bilibili.

There are even more lawsuits, nearly four hundred in total. Bilibili is originally a gathering place for the two-dimensional world and is dependent on this kind of anime.

Especially the ghost area, there are a lot of anime.

All of a sudden, the small broken site has to face as many as 600 intellectual property lawsuits, including the copyrights of sports events such as the International Basketball Federation and the International Football Federation.

The locations of the lawsuits are different, some are in Shanghai and some are in Beijing. It can be said that the lawsuits were planned for a long time and are large in scale.

If there was no one pushing it forward, there wouldn't be so many lawsuits at once, and they wouldn't be so targeted.

There was no sign of this copyright war, but the undercurrent had already been surging, and the two parties were already competing against each other.

Gong Yu of iQiyi called the legal department and said: "Collect the evidence. We will also file an intellectual property lawsuit against the small broken station."

Not only iQiyi is ready to take action, but video platforms including Youku and Tencent are also ready to initiate intellectual property lawsuits against Bilibili.

They have a lot of film and television works, and a large number of them have been re-created by Bilibili.

This is an opportunity to suppress Chang'e Technology. Their video content has squeezed too much market share.

This made it difficult for their other video platforms, especially the newly launched "Love O1O", which broke million views on the first day of its broadcast.

Compared with other popular TV series that have box office revenue of tens of millions, box office revenue of over 100 million on the first day is already the ceiling.

It broke the first-day viewing record for all movies and TV series and became the drama with the highest single-day viewing volume on the entire network.

Hot searches dominated the charts, with topics like #杨阳晓奈#, #倾城情侣#, #一笑很倾城开播# surging to 10 billion with the start of the show, and the number of discussions exceeding one million.

The Moments and QQ Space were flooded with messages!
It became a hit drama with both high reputation and popularity, and Yang Yang also became another first-line male star in Yutu thanks to this drama.

But it’s a pity that Yutu no longer signs any artistes, but they can still be affiliated with it and be responsible for their own actions.

This drama has added over 150 million members to Chang'e Video, bringing the number of Chang'e Video members to over million, putting it in a far leading position.

The number of members on other video platforms is at most 20 million, so you can imagine how popular Chang'e Video is.

The main reason is that there are too many high-quality content. "Ode to Joy", "The Mystic Nine", "Ghost Blows Out the Light" and other works have been launched one after another and are on the verge of an explosion.

Other video platforms are feeling the pressure, so how can they just sit back and watch?

It can be said that the copyright war launched by Jack Ma and Mr. Wang has given them the opportunity and window to strike against the principal, which has a far-reaching impact.

Even many copyright companies have filed lawsuits against top creators. One creator with six million fans, who specializes in remixing and cutting anime slices, received a lawyer's letter.

Including highly viewed film and television commentary, this imitates how Fang Hong dealt with Xiao Wang's panda, cutting off the source of the problem.

This made many creators panic, and they had to stop updating and wait and see how the wind blows.

They can't afford to pay any compensation, nor do they have the time to waste time with those big shots.

Hollywood movies and animation, plus these domestic video platforms, including some other production platforms, the small broken station has to face thousands of lawsuits, which is a massive amount and broke out all of a sudden.

This does not include music. 90% of the music is controlled by Tencent. If Tencent takes action, it will be a catastrophic event.

Tencent has been developing its music business over the years. The three major international record companies, Universal, Sony, and Warner, all have exclusive distribution rights in China.

All of this is paid with real money. Let’s put it this way, Tencent pays hundreds of millions of US dollars a year to Universal Music alone.

In addition, it also led a consortium to spend approximately US$34 billion to acquire 10% of Universal Music's shares, directly locking in the strategic target.

It is conceivable that this is not something that ordinary people can afford, at least Fang Hong can't afford it now.

Don’t be fooled by his boasting. He has no money at all. He is far behind Internet manufacturers like Tencent and Alibaba, not to mention the consortium.

Of course, Tencent has also bundled with domestic record companies, including Zhou Milk Tea’s JVR Music and Emperor Entertainment Group.

It also acquired the core assets of China Music Group, which included a large number of lyrics and music copyrights.

So if Tencent goes bankrupt, it will be a disaster.

If compensation is required for every lawsuit, the small station will not be able to afford it, and it will seriously hinder the development of Chang'e Technology.

Of course, Tony Ma of Tencent was the first to know about the copyright war between Jack Ma and Mr. Wang against the principal. The scale of this is so huge that it would be impossible not to know about it.

Their Tencent video platform is also involved, but not much involved in music. However, there have always been small-scale frictions.

Of course, if Tencent takes action, NetEase, Taihe, and Alibaba must also be vigilant.

Because once Tencent regulates music copyright, they will be subject to Tencent's restrictions and have to pay taxes.

This is the current copyright structure in the country. Tencent is the only dominant player in the music field; as a newly emerging force, Chang'e and Jade Rabbit's film and television content has always been very popular.

Everything outside Hollywood is in Alibaba's hands. The Hollywood movies and TV shows Youku has bought are huge, and they had money before.

Alibaba has invested in many Hollywood films and TV series.

iQiyi produces most of its own content, while Chang'e Video produces most of its content in collaboration with others.

The overall pattern of domestic copyright is basically like this. If these companies start fighting, all other platforms will become cannon fodder.

In this era, who has not infringed upon copyright? Almost all of them have infringed upon copyright, but due to the characteristics of small websites, they have a lot of traffic and are more conspicuous.

Currently, Station A has more than 9270 million monthly active users and revenue of over 41 billion, which is unique in its class. Station A is no longer able to survive due to internal reasons.

"Mr. Fang, the situation we are facing now is very serious. If this continues, traffic will be lost." Zhang Nan said.

"We really need to think of some solutions. Do you have any good ideas?" Fang Hong asked.

This lawsuit cannot be concluded overnight. Thousands of lawsuits cannot be concluded in a short time and all require waiting in line.

"We should negotiate with those small copyright holders first. If we cannot reach an agreement, we will have to file a lawsuit. However, we will definitely have to face compensation. I suggest reducing the share of creators to reduce the losses," said Zhang Nan.

Whether it's fighting or talking, you have to pay to settle the matter. Without money, it won't end well.

Those small third-party agents just want money, and many of them will let the matter go as long as they are paid.

"Okay, then let's talk to them slowly! Let's set up a copyright prepayment pool and invest 10 billion every year to purchase those copyright licenses in exchange for secondary creation exemptions.

However, the share will not be reduced, not only will it not be reduced, but it will be increased from the original 70% to 80% to encourage them to continue creating." Fang Hong said.

"This?" Zhang Nan was confused. What was this operation? He couldn't understand it.

“When something happens, we cannot shift the crisis downwards. If we do, the crisis will still exist. Not only will the crisis still exist, but it will also damage our foundation.

This matter can only be guided, and creators can be guided to comment on other old films and TV series from South Korea, India and other countries. There are so many films and TV series in the world. As long as they are interesting in telling and editing, people will watch them. "Fang Hong told her.

Zhang Nan nodded, looking as if he had learned something. It was indeed like that. A lot of people didn’t care about the content of the editing, they just cared about the emotional value of the entertainment.

As for whether you are editing a Korean film or an Indian film, it doesn’t matter, you can still gain a huge number of fans.

They just need to turn to buying some marginal films and TV shows and put them into the content pool for the creators to create secondary works.

"But we don't want to increase their share! That would increase our expenses a lot," she said.

"Stabilize the basic base. As long as the basic base can be stabilized, we can keep fighting with them. Money can be solved in other ways. Once user habits are formed, it is difficult to recover. Once the traffic is occupied by others, it is difficult to pull it back." Fang Hong said.

"It's just that we've been spending a lot of money recently, and our gaming revenue has dropped," said Zhang Nan.

Not only did they want to acquire Musical.ly, they were also reported for inappropriate games. In addition, they invested 60 billion in the film and television industry. There are really too many places to spend money.

Now there is a copyright war again, and the difficulties are too many.

"It's okay. There are difficulties, but we just need to overcome them." Fang Hong definitely knows his limits.

"Fortnite", which has been in development for six years, was released on all platforms on July 7, including mobile games.

This game is free with zero barriers to entry, and PC, console, and mobile phones can seamlessly communicate with each other, completely breaking down user boundaries.

Just the IOS version of the mobile game earned US$48 million in 1500 hours, and the entire platform earned US$1.5 million in one week, with the total number of players exceeding 4500 million!
It is faster than any other game before it and is extremely popular, becoming a phenomenal online game.

After all, six years have passed, everything that needed to be polished has been polished, all the pitfalls that needed to be avoided have been avoided, and a lot of popularity has been accumulated from previous tests.

The profit is made through in-app purchases, such as skins and battle passes, with a unit price of US$9.99. The sales volume in the current period exceeded 500 million copies.

It is similar to an online game, except that it is not listed on the Steam platform and it does not sell games, so there is no need to list on this platform.

Within one month of its launch, the app’s revenue exceeded US$2.96 million, and the peak number of online users exceeded million.

It’s just that this game has not been launched in China, and its initial development was not aimed at domestic players, mainly because there were too many restrictions.

The previous issue about underage playing games is still going on, and Swan Castle is still cooperating with the rectification.

Of course, as long as domestic players want to play, they can still play by circumventing the firewall. It is very convenient to play games by circumventing the firewall, as long as they don't read other harmful information.

Otherwise, Steam wouldn't be so popular, as everyone would need a VPN to access it.

Therefore, "Fortnite" can fill the gap and help make up for the shortfall. In its previous life, the game's annual revenue was more than 50 billion US dollars, making it one of the most profitable games in the world.

Currently, the annual revenue of Chang'e Technology is only 60 to 70 billion US dollars, and this game can almost double it.

As long as expectations are met, Fang Hong has the confidence to increase the share ratio and confront them head-on.

While the two were chatting, Fang Hong's phone suddenly rang. He took it out and took a look. It was Zhang Hongsen calling.

As soon as the call was connected, the man joked: "You guys have had such a lively fight this year!"

He was talking about the previous fight with Huayi, Alibaba's choice between the two, the 10 billion investment in the film and television industry, the Eagle Killing Conference cutting off Wanda's film supply, the recent theater rent increase, and now the copyright war, as well as the acquisition of Bona and other events, one after another.

"I'm sorry to make you laugh at me, but it's difficult for me too!" Fang Hong sighed.

"What's the problem? I only see you bullying others." Zhang Hongsen said.

"What could have caused you to have such a misunderstanding? I was clearly the one being bullied and I was passively fighting back. If I win the fight, do you think I am bullying others?

If one person hits another, there is still legitimate defense." Fang Hong said.

"At best you were just fighting each other, which is far from self-defense," said Zhang Hongsen.

"If you say so, then it is. You are the referee and you have the authority to judge." Fang Hong did not refute. He did have the authority to judge.

"I heard before that the real estate developers are going to raise the rent of all your cinemas. Is that true?" Zhang Hongsen asked.

This is the area he is in charge of, and those real estate developers are essentially reaching out to him.

"Yes, but I fought back against them." Fang Hong said.

"I have to praise you for this. You did a good job. Those real estate developers will not care about the life and death of the film industry. It is best not to let them affect the healthy development of the film and television industry." Zhang Hongsen said.

"It's what I should do." Fang Hong said modestly.

"Let me tell you something. We have studied the report you gave me before on your opinions on promoting the healthy development of the film and television theater industry. It's just that your recent behavior has violated some regulations." Zhang Hongsen said.

"Which one?" Fang Hong asked.

"Unfair competition, abuse of market dominance, and forced cut-off of film sources, what you are doing is vicious competition," said Zhang Hongsen.

"If you say so, Wanda has also violated the regulations. They were the ones who monopolized my screening schedule and prevented our films from being shown in their theaters. This is also vicious competition and abuse of market dominance. Oh, and he also found some real estate businesses. His behavior is extremely bad." Fang Hong was going to sue the other party.

"Haha, you really are a person who can't even give in." Zhang Hongsen smiled.

"We can't give in. The situation has become intense now and we can't stop. If you want to issue this report, then do it. One of us must give in." Fang Hong said firmly.

Some things cannot be compromised. If he compromises, what is the point of fighting for so long? What is the point of spending so much effort? It is meaningless.

I think Zhang Hongsen and his team have studied his previous report, made some revisions, and are preparing to publish it.

Whether they send it or not, they will continue to fuck each other in other ways.

"Do you still have requirements on which movies must be shown in which theaters? If so, you can let art films be shown in every theater across the country at least once, instead of showing them on a small scale," Fang Hong said again.

"We won't stipulate this, but if you abuse your market dominance, we can consider it as disrupting the order." Zhang Hongsen also knew that this was unrealistic.

All movies have the right to choose which theater chain they will be released in, and they can be released on a large scale or locally.

As long as it’s a movie that passes review!
But they have the right to interpret this. Although they don’t care which theater your film is released in, they will take a negative attitude towards cutting off the supply of malicious and disruptive content.

In any industry, there is a lot of room for interpretation of regulations.

"Okay! What do you want us to do?" Fang Hong said.

"Don't take it too seriously. I'm not here to tell you what to do. You have to solve your own problems. I'm calling just to let you know that your movie 'The Martian' has been selected for an Oscar. As for whether you can win, I wish you good luck." Zhang Hongsen said.

He made this call mainly for this matter, and other matters were just reminders. As for their life-and-death fight, as long as they didn't cross the line, he would not care.

Domestic films must be officially selected and submitted; individuals or organizations are not allowed to submit them, and only one is allowed each year.

It was Zhang Hongsen who called to inform us about the last animation.

Although it is a co-production, the process is the same.

"Okay, thank you Director Zhang." Fang Hong said.

"As I said, although the market environment is like this, you still have to remain restrained. You are still young." Zhang Hongsen said he has plenty of time.

Of course, everyone in the copyright market is fighting, and Fang Hong is not the only one fighting. He is also swept up by the times.

Because copyright is about to undergo another change!

(End of this chapter)