The domestic patent law was only enacted in 84 years. Prior to this, most of the patented technologies of foreigners in China were not paid (of course, if the industrial base is too poor and you will not copy the answer, or you still need foreign technical support, of course you will be charged a high technical service fee)

The domestic copyright law was not enacted until 90 years, which seems to be 6 years later than the patent law. But even long before that, there were domestic royalties paid to imported foreign publications.

In addition to the law, there are also administrative regulations and regulations such as the Trial Measures for Remuneration for Books to provide temporary protection for copyright. By March '80, that is, eight months later, my country will also officially join the World Intellectual Property Organization.

In a word, in China at that time, the protection of copyright was superior to the protection of patents.

You don't have to pay foreigners for foreign patents, but you have to pay money for showing foreign movies and turning foreign countries.

This may be because at that time, domestic scientific and technological workers could live mainly on the salary and bonus of the unit, while the workers on the literary and artistic front relied on manuscript fees early on. Therefore, once an exception is made on the issue of foreigners, it is easy to have intractable problems in the distribution of benefits, and lead to the chaotic collapse of the manuscript fee system.

Assuming that you don't have to give money to the original author for the introduction of "Manhunt", then why is it only you, Hujiang Film Studio, who has introduced it? After the Chuncheng Factory and the Beijing Factory saw that the film was popular, could they also follow the trend and translate, and then the theaters in various places would draw up land to defend themselves and form gangs?

In order to maintain the order of the economic system in this circle, it is obviously better to give tens of thousands of dollars and buy out the exclusive copyright in the mainland in accordance with international practice.

Of course, as mentioned above, the foreign copyright trade in this era is basically only in the form of "buyout at a fixed price", and cannot be "box office sharing".

First, foreigners can't look at the domestic box office, and secondly, there is no technical statistics, and many things are not suitable for transparency.

It is equivalent to the network writers of later generations, if they do not believe in the background subscription data of some pheasant small websites, they must be inclined to sign a buyout contract instead of a share contract. (Here's a counter-example to those spicy chicken sites.) A certain point is a famous brand station, and the data credibility is very good)

Half a year ago, when Xu Ling led the introduction of "Manhunt", the factory talked to Yue himself about this kind of buyout system.

If Gu Biao wants to talk to him today, it must be on the basis of this model.

……

Perhaps because of the endorsement of Su Ping, Xiao Sui and other intermediaries trusted by Xu Ling, after a short trial confrontation, Xu Ling no longer had any doubts about Gu Ling's interpersonal network and mediation ability.

Those who have been able to visit many times and publish many articles in the archives must be extremely familiar with the country's public opinion orientation and censorship standards, and there will be no shortage of friends on the propaganda front.

When it comes to specific commercial pricing issues, though.

Especially when Gu Biao once again introduced his partners in Xiangjiang and the empty shell of the agent he could provide, Xu Ling still raised his own questions.

"Xiao Gu, this business is not as simple as you think. He took a sip of Moutai, and the middle finger of his right index finger was slightly bent and tapped on the tabletop.

"I've seen the Heung Kong Law Firm and intellectual property agency you are looking for. If you want to be an intermediary with a qualification, that's fine. But do you think that today's agents make money? No, they all lose money.

You expect to resell the copyright to make the difference, which is absolutely not allowed in China. The state will not watch any middlemen who 'pick up leaks' make the difference, at most only the original producer can make money. Otherwise, the factory will violate the policy and will be investigated and punished in the future. ”

In the later era, when the free trade of copyright was more developed, it was a very legitimate business to flip the copyright and make the difference in price.

For example, in an online article, a copyright middleman or agent, betting that the writer will become popular in the future and the adaptation rights of all his works will appreciate, then be a "Bole" first, and start at a low price when the other party is still poor. When he is really popular, he will resell the copyright at a high price to someone who really wants to make a movie and make an online series.

It's a bit like the "gambling stone" in Myanmar, playing with vision and picking up leaks.

But in China, until the first half of the 80s, such a situation was absolutely not allowed, even if there was no clear legal provision.

Because China thinks that this is speculation, and it is easy to give rise to dealers associated with film studios, deliberately deceitful and enrich their own pockets-

If it is allowed, then in case the producer sells a film for 50,000 yuan, the middleman will sell it to the studio after changing hands, and someone in the studio will take the middleman's money and lie to the state that "the film is worth 100,000 yuan". Then the middleman made 50,000 yuan, and he could also take a part of the 50,000 yuan to the clapper of the state-owned studio as a kickback.

Because any work of art cannot be valued by a strictly objective algorithm.

Famous paintings, films, calligraphy, porcelain...... How much should these things be worth? The planned economy cannot be calculated.

Art is inherently the best vehicle for launder-money and corruption-corruption, so it can only be one-size-fits-all – as long as you make the difference, you can't buy it. Anyone who wants to be a middleman for a work of art is only allowed to lose money, not make a profit.

Xu Ling succinctly expounded the policy and concluded:

"Therefore, in our country, we only allow translation studios to directly ask the producer to buy copyrights. If you have to ask the second-tier dealer to buy it, then the second-tier dealer is not allowed to increase the price, and must sell it to us at the original price when he asked the producer to buy it, or even at a loss. If you let the second-hand dealers make money, you are making a mistake. ”

Hearing this, Ma Feng, Wen Ying, Gu Min, and Yang Xin were all a little confused.

They thought they were going to run for nothing today.

How can the state have such a policy? It is only allowed to lose money and not make money? If you make money, you will be considered a crime?

So why do you still open up this agency system? Wouldn't it be better to just let the middlemen die? Who will do the business that will lose money?

Xu Ling was afraid that everyone would not understand it thoroughly, so he took "Pursuit" he introduced half a year ago as an example:

"For example, when I bought "Manhunt", the production cost of the film was about 2 million US dollars, and the box office in China was about 5 million US dollars.

At that time, the Japanese side offered $100,000, and in the end, while bargaining, the factory found a middleman who was willing to lose money and do good deeds, and actually only spent $50,000 to introduce ......"

(Note: According to the last domestic box office of 30 million yuan, this is very profitable, and the studio can get 1.2 million US dollars, which is equivalent to 25 times the profit.)

However, at that time, the country lacked foreign exchange, so I only saw that 'I spent 50,000 US dollars in vain, but only made Chinese's own money in the pot', so the economic income generation was not commended, and I felt that it was just the left hand to the right hand. At that time, it was glorious only to earn foreigners' money. ）

Hearing this, Ma Feng, who was quite bold, plucked up his courage and raised his own question: "Mr. Xu, according to your statement, when "Manhunt" was introduced, a middleman took the initiative to bear the loss, and this transaction was promoted?"

Xu Ling affirmed: "That's right, it is a non-profit organization under the Mitsui chaebol, which is of a cultural propaganda nature, and bought the buyout copyright of the film in the mainland from Daying Pictures for $80,000, and then sold it to our factory at a loss of $30,000 and $50,000." ”

Ma Feng was puzzled: "Then that institution is an international attention soldier, and it has come all the way to China just to lose money?"

"They are for the purpose of exporting culture, so as to promote our openness and exchanges with Japan, and to build momentum for the entire economic cooperation environment. Gu Biao interrupted Ma Feng's question and answered him personally.

After Xu Ling heard this, he glanced at Gu Biao approvingly, obviously thinking that this kid had a good eye.

"Cultural export?" Ma Feng didn't understand, obviously his brain circuit hadn't kept up, and he only stayed at the level of purely calculating economic books.

Gu Biao sighed: "I think their output is very successful. Losing $30,000 made 300 million Chinese go to see a Yuben movie, knowing that Yuben already has a Shinkansen, private jets, and skyscrapers everywhere in Tokyo, and it will change a generation's perception of Yumoto. In the eyes of our parents, we used to say that I was just a cruel devil, but now we see myself in our lives - from this point of view, do you still think that the $30,000 is a loss?"

Ma Feng and several other friends scratched their heads: it turns out that the little devil has evolved to settle accounts like this......

When Director Xu heard this, he coughed lightly: "Hmm...... That, Comrade Xiao Gu, pay attention to the wording, the country's current policy is to be friendly to Japan, and many Japanese businessmen are indeed atoning for their sins, investing heavily in China and providing low-interest and interest-free dollar loans. We can't speak against the national orientation......"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I know what you mean. "Gu Biao is not a Japanese hater, he knows how to distinguish between various types of people.

Ethnic hatred is always more prominent when economic growth is sluggish. When everyone wants to develop the economy, they often don't have much time.

After Gu Biao apologized, he immediately changed his words: "But Director Xu, I don't think that 'middlemen are not allowed to make the difference in copyright', I can't do this business anymore - I am willing to do this loss-making transaction for the country and be this middleman." ”

Xu Ling couldn't figure it out at all: "What are you going to do?"

Gu Biao picked up the white porcelain Moutai wine bottle and poured another full glass for each of them: "Director Xu, does the state prohibit middlemen from inserting advertisements at the beginning and end of the translated film?"

"Advertisements?" Xu Ling was stunned, "Where did the movie get commercials? ”

In 1979, domestic TV stations did already have commercials. However, because there is no cable TV, most people can only receive one CCXV and one provincial station.

In some remote and impoverished places, even provincial stations have not yet been established. As for the first wave of prefecture-level city television stations, it took about 84 years to become popular. (Jinling TV was established in January 80, which is a special case, the earliest provincial capital TV station in China)

Gu Biao ignored Xu Ling's ambiguity and insisted on asking: "You just said that if the middleman helps you get the copyright back at a low price, but you want to edit some advertisements at the beginning and end of the film, the policy does not allow it." ”

Xu Ling thought for a while: "How much is this advertisement worth...... It's hard to define. Maybe if we talk directly to the original producer and allow them to insert commercials, the copyright price will be lower than that of the middlemen......?

"Unless what?"

"Unless the middleman inserts an advertisement, don't want a penny, and give it directly to the domestic dubbing studio!"

"Okay, that's it. Gu Biao raised his glass directly and touched it with the other party briskly.

"Clams?" Xu Ling was directly stupid, "Comrade Xiao Gu, didn't you hear me clearly? I said it for nothing! You should be careful of losing to death!"

Gu Biao said awe-inspiringly: "Then you should contribute to the country - the chaebol has this consciousness, we who have been educated by the state, and now we have a little money, is it not as good as the consciousness of myself?"

"That'...... You're so high-spirited!"