At the beginning of this year, China's well-known animation image "Big Head Son Little Head Dad" caused a lawsuit in Hangzhou, and a Hangzhou animation company claimed that they owned the copyright of the three images of the big head son, the small head father, and the apron mother in the animation, so the new version of "Big Head" made by CCTV in recent years is infringing. Recently, the reporter learned from the Hangzhou Binjiang Court that the case has been decided, and CCTV lost the case.

Artist Liu Zedai created the image of the eldest son and sold it to the Hangzhou company

The image of the eldest son is widely disseminated, and it is indeed through CCTV.

In 1994, CCTV and Shanghai Keying Studio were preparing for big-headed animation, and director Cui Shiyu found Liu Zedai, a famous art designer seconded to Keying Studio at that time, and in Liu Zedai's home, he designed three images of a big-headed son, a small-headed father, and an apron mother on the spot.

No agreement was signed, no fees were paid, and the original design was missing.

However, after CCTV's production, the animation quickly became popular, and the two images became all the rage.

In 2012, Hong from Hangzhou was introduced to Liu Zedai, and the two sides signed a copyright transfer contract, and then Hong and others established a joint venture Hangzhou Datou Cultural Development Co., Ltd., and the three images of Datou's son belong to this company.

In 2013, CCTV produced a new 3D version of "Big Head", which caused a boom, and the animation also won awards at the Hangzhou International Animation Festival. But the plot is new, the characters are old, and Hangzhou Datou Culture Company believes that CCTV's use of the images of Datou's son is an infringement.

CCTV believes that copyright cannot be attributed to individuals, otherwise it will be a heavy loss of state-owned assets

Of course, in court, CCTV denied the infringement, and first said: Liu Zedai does not have the copyright of the image of the eldest son at all, and there is no way to talk about the subsequent transfer.

"In order to make the 95 version of the cartoon, Cui Shiyu went to Liu Zedai's house at the end of 1994, and Liu Zedai sketched three creative concept drawings on the spot, and according to the oral agreement between the two parties, the copyright of the work belongs to CCTV."

In addition, CCTV also proposed: "A creative concept cannot be used directly, but needs to go through many follow-up steps, and the cartoons broadcast are created by many people on the basis of Liu Zedai's creativity, and should belong to cooperative creation." ”

At the end of the 95 version of the cartoon, the character design is marked as Liu Zedai, but CCTV said that this is only out of consideration for the length of the subtitles and respect for Liu Zedai.

In the defense, CCTV also stated that for the new version of "Big Head", CCTV has invested hundreds of millions of yuan, and if the copyright of the work involved in the case belongs to an individual, it will lead to infringement of the above-mentioned adaptation, resulting in the loss of state-owned assets.

The court found that the copyright belonged to the author, Liu Zedai

The copyright of images such as "Big Head Son" originally belonged to Liu Zedai or CCTV? After investigation and trial, the court first made a determination on this matter.

Article 17 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that: "The ownership of the copyright of a commissioned work shall be agreed upon by the principal and the trustee through a contract. If the contract does not expressly stipulate or no contract is concluded, the copyright belongs to the trustee. ”

In court, CCTV failed to provide the contract for the commissioned creation at that time, and its claim that "the oral agreement belongs to CCTV" was also denied by Liu Zedai himself.

It can be confirmed from the memories of many parties that Liu Zedai used paper and pen to design three characters at home at that time, but in terms of character images, they are independent creations rather than collaborative works.

Therefore, the court held that the complete copyright of the three images such as the eldest son belonged to Liu Zedai.

Both parties have Liu Zedai's authorization, is it "one daughter and two marriages"?

So, what kind of twists and turns and transfers have these three well-known animation images in the hands of Liu Zedai have become the focus of this case.

Not only Hong, CCTV also holds the agreement they signed with Liu Zedai.

On January 4, 2013, Liu Zedai signed an agreement with CCTV Animation Company on the commission of art modeling of "Big Head Son and Little Head Dad", stipulating that Liu Zedai would create three character models for the new version of the animation, "Big Head Son", "Little Head Dad" and "Apron Mother", with a commission fee of 10,000 yuan and a delivery time of February 28, 2013.

But Liu Zedai did not report to CCTV. During the period up to July 30, 2013, Liu Zedai twice returned the 10,000 yuan commission fee paid by CCTV, and issued a notice of termination to CCTV.

However, in August 2013, the two sides signed a supplementary agreement, which stated that in the mid-90s of the last century, CCTV obtained all the copyrights of the three characters such as "Big Head Son" except for the right of authorship by way of commissioned creation, and produced 156 episodes of 95 versions of the cartoon accordingly, Liu Zedai collected the relevant fees, and no longer enjoyed the copyright, and also guaranteed that the third party was not authorized to obtain or use the relevant modeling works through guò transfer, licensing and other methods.

On August 29, 2013, Liu Zedai also signed a "Description" that had been quoted by others in advance, which said that the three characters in the 95 version of the cartoon were created by Liu Zedai under the commission of CCTV, and according to the agreement at that time, the copyright and other intellectual property rights of the work belonged to CCTV. The reason why Liu Zedai signed a contract with Hong was that he mistakenly thought that the rights to these shapes had been obtained by Hong, and the signing of the contract under misled circumstances was invalid.

These contracts with Liu Zedai and Hong were all presented in court, and all of them were signed by Liu Zedai in black and white.

The facts and evidence provided by CCTV and Hangzhou Datouzi Culture Company are obviously contradictory, judging from the paper materials alone, Liu Zedai not only married his own creations with one daughter and two daughters, but also went back on his word.

But what's really going on? The old gentleman came to the courtroom in person.

Liu Zedai said in court: The contract with CCTV was signed during the meal, and I didn't look at it carefully

Liu Zedai is now 76 years old, his hair has grayed, as a famous Chinese artist, not only "Big Head Son Little Head Dad", "Shuke and Beta", "Big Thief" and other well-known cartoons of the post-80s generation have his participation.

In the contradictory facts, Liu Zedai stood on Hong's side.

In court, he said that the two contracts with CCTV "were signed at dinner and the other by car, both of which were printed in advance and the other party's statement to him had been read by his lawyer, so he did not read them carefully when he signed them." And cooperation with Hong is what he really means.

The reporter interviewed Liu Zedai and his wife, both of whom were very irritable and angry about this dispute, because "Liu Zedai is a very old-fashioned artist, who is only obsessed with creation, and has no concept of contracts and copyrights. ”

In fact, that time with Hong was the first contract in Liu Zedai's life.

The court ruled that CCTV was infringing, but the animation could not be taken off the shelves

The judge said: It would be a huge waste to sacrifice a good animation because of the controversy over the characters

After the trial, the court held that Liu Zedai had the copyright of the eldest son, and it was transferred to Hong at the earliest, and this contract was valid.

As for the two agreements and statements with CCTV, judging from the background of the signing and Liu Zedai's statement in court, they are not the expression of true meaning, and there is already a contract with Hong in advance, so CCTV does not have the copyright of the image of the "big head son". The new version of "Big Head" in 2013 is an infringing work and must be held responsible.

One of the lawsuits filed by Hangzhou Datou Culture Company is to order the complete removal of CCTV's Datou animation, including banning online broadcasting. The court did not support this.

The judge explained that in the 90s, CCTV commissioned Liu Zedai to create characters but did not sign a contract, which was also limited by the background of the times at that time, and later the cartoon was a huge success, and CCTV also invested a lot of effort, if such an excellent cartoon became history, it would be a huge waste of social resources.

Therefore, in the end, the court only ruled on economic compensation, and CCTV Animation Co., Ltd. needed to pay a total of more than 120 yuan to Hangzhou Datouson Cultural Development Co., Ltd. for economic losses and rights protection costs.