As for the ownership of characters in cartoons, there have been many discussions in court systems across the country. The current general opinion is that the characters should be owned by the producers, such as "Pleasant Goat and Gray Taro". of. This also involves an issue of industrial development. In fact, cartoons themselves are not the main way to make money, but derivatives of cartoons. If the copyrights of the designs belong to individuals, then no producer may be willing to invest in the development of cartoons. ”

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Hu Jinqing said that he completed the animation character design in 1984 and the creation of the animated film "Calabash Brothers" in 1986. " was promulgated in 1990 and implemented in June of the following year, and has been revised twice. Does the current "Copyright Law" apply to this case? There is a provision in the "Copyright Law" that has been continued from 1990 to the present day. If a person has not exceeded the protection period stipulated in this Law on the date of implementation of this Law, he shall be protected in accordance with the provisions of this Law on the ownership of the copyright of works. The two revisions only have text adjustments and no substantive changes. Therefore, the current Copyright Law The provisions of the Act on the ownership of works apply to this case.

The dispute between the two parties in this case is the copyright of the characters in the film works, but the copyright of the film works can be owned by the producers. The author of the work used alone has the right to exercise his copyright alone. Hu Jinqing has always treasured the script script of "Calabash Brothers". His family said that to make a paper-cut animation film, you must first design the character image and draw the script script. The characters are cut into pieces of paper with movable joints, and then placed in different actions on a large background pattern, and photographed frame by frame. In this way, the storyboard is like an art comic book, containing a series of animated characters. The design is an artistic work that is independent of the film and can be exercised by the author alone.

The design of Calabash Baby

Is it a professional work or a legal person's work?

Hu Jinqing is from Shanghai. The employees of Meiying Studio are the main creators of the animation works and character designs involved in the case. There is no dispute between the two parties. To determine the copyright ownership of the characters in the Calabash series, it is necessary to distinguish whether it is a legal person's work or an employee work.

< p>Legal person works refer to works hosted by a legal person or other organization, created on behalf of its will, and for which it bears responsibility. The legal person or other organization is regarded as the author and enjoys copyright. Shanghai Meiying Factory should provide evidence in accordance with the above conditions, otherwise the disputed works will be involved. It may be recognized as a work for employment.

The rights to work for employment belong to the author, unless there are two legal situations: 1. It is mainly created using the material and technical conditions of a legal person or other organization, and is borne by the legal person or other organization. Responsible engineering design drawings, product design drawings, maps, computer software and other professional works; 2. Professional works whose copyright is owned by legal persons or other organizations as stipulated in laws, administrative regulations or contracts.

Shanghai Meiying Factory requires. It seems difficult to prove these two points, because Hu and Wu do not have a copyright ownership agreement with Shanghai Meiying Studio, and the creation of art works does not depend much on the material and technical conditions of the unit, and the creators can create independently.

Film producers and character designers

How to balance copyright rights

Animated movies are inseparable from character modeling, but animation works also give characters distinctiveness through complete storylines Character characteristics and different meanings, the commercial value of the image not only comes from the original work of the character designer, but also from the enrichment, enrichment and continuous dissemination of the image by animated movies. The investment required to produce animated films is huge. The commercial value contained in the character image can extend to trademark rights, patent rights, etc., and is the source of rights protection in the industry chain. At present, our country has not introduced the concept of character commercialization rights at the legislative level. The commercial use of character images still relies on copyright protection. For artists and animation producers, the ownership and income distribution of modeling design and Contractual agreement is currently the best option, whether the animated image is completed by employees or commissioned to be created by a professional design agency.

Controversy is inevitable, both at home and abroad.

The heirs of Sieber, the copyright owner of the "Superman" image, have been in litigation with Time Warner for several years, and the dispute over the copyright of Ultraman's appearance has also lasted for ten years. The image of Calabash Baby is a classic among my country's domestic animations. Its cultural influence and commercial value are huge. It is everyone's hope to get out of the quagmire of ownership disputes as soon as possible and let Calabash Baby develop healthily.