SHANGHAI INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY COURT

Shanghai Animation Film Studio vs. Qu Jianfang, and Publishing House of Electronics Industry for Appeal of Dispute over Possession of Copyright

Basic facts

“Afanti”, the work in dispute, was created by Qu Jianfang around the 1980s when he worked for in Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and over 30 years after that period, Qu Jianfang had been publishing by contribution and licensing others to shoot animations or use the work in dispute in product promotion and other activities. He obtained the copyright register certificate of “Afanti” in 1996. However, Shanghai Animation Film Studio viewed the work in dispute as created by the manpower organized by it under its funding and determined by it for the final model, so the work should be a work-for-hire. Since the Afanti Classic Comics and the Story Selection of Afanti drawn by Qu Jianfang and published by the Publishing House of Electronics Industry utilized the figure of which Shanghai Animation Film Studio owned the copyright for profit without authorization, Shanghai Animation Film Studio filed a lawsuit to request the court to rule that the two defendants stop the infringement and compensate the loss arising therefrom.

Results of judgment

The People’s Court of Xuhui District after the first trial held that prior to the proceeding of the case, both Shanghai Animation Film Studio and Qu Jianfang were exercising the copyright of the work in dispute and both parties were informed and had no objection. For a long time, both parties had reached a tacit agreement that “both parties had the right to control the work in dispute” by actual practice, so the property right in the work of the role model art work in dispute was determined as owned by both Shanghai Animation Film Studio and Qu Jianfang. After the second trial, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court viewed that if only party had the property right in the work based on the actuality of the case, it apparently would lead to imbalance of interests and go against the equity principle. Hence the court determined that the property right in the work should be shared by Shanghai Animation Film Studio and Qu Jianfang pursuant to the principle of honesty and credibility, and the judgment of the first trial was affirmed.

Typical significance

This case was about the copyright possession of the work-for-hire during a special period in the development of China given that the classic comics and story selection of “Afanti” also had considerable social influence. After the comprehensive consideration of the social background in the era of planned economy when the work was done and exploration of the genuine intention of parties in combination of the fact that both parties were fully aware that both of them had been utilizing the work in dispute over 30 years and expressed no objection or initiated any relief procedures, Shanghai Intellectual Property Court measured the involved parties’ contribution to promote the role model art work and applied the principle of equity, honesty and credibility to render the ruling that both Shanghai Animation Film Studio and Qu Jianfang should share the property right in the work. The ruling of this case fairly and reasonably settle the dispute according to the principle of “history, equity and reality” and realized the balance between individual and collective interest through the comprehensive consideration of history, status quo and other factors. It was a vigorous exploration on the ruling of the court regarding the ownership of animated characters created during the special historical period.

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