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Can entrepreneurs imitate red envelopes and wechat expressions from beginning to end?

​&# 8203;&# 8203;&# 8203;&# 8203;&# 8203;&# 8203; (original title: can entrepreneurs imitate wechat red envelopes and facial expressions? Be careful, someone was sentenced to a compensation of 900000)

There is an instant messaging application called 'boasting', which directly moved all wechat featured products such as wechat red envelope and wechat expression package to use for itself, so 'success' received the indictment of Tencent. Finally, the court ruled that it should compensate Tencent 900000 yuan.

What is your most commonly used wechat expression?

Image source: wechat moment

According to the data previously disclosed by Tencent, wechat users exceeded 1 billion, of which more than 500 million have used the expression of 'covering their faces' (the second expression in the figure above). Tencent has publicly said that this expression was completed by three or four designers in five months.

Fight for luck, fight for speed and grab red envelopes -- the red envelope playing method designed by wechat red envelope has also become an entertainment way for many people to share joy. Tencent revealed that 823 million people sent and received red envelopes through wechat during the Spring Festival this year. It is worth mentioning that Tencent mobile phone red envelope also won the China Patent Gold Award (design patent) last year.

Seeing the achievements made by others, there was a software called 'boasting', which directly moved all these wechat features to use for itself, so 'success' received the indictment of Tencent.

Alleged infringement of 'red envelope chat bubble' and 'red envelope opening page' in 'boasting' application software (picture source: Beijing Internet court)

On July 19, the Beijing Internet court found that Beijing Qingshu Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Qingshu), the developer and operator of the defendant's "boasting" software, constituted infringement and unfair competition, and ordered the defendant to compensate Tencent for a total of 900000 yuan. This is also the first case involving a series of copyright disputes over 'wechat expression' and 'wechat red envelope'.

'boasting' was sued for comprehensive plagiarism of wechat, and the court awarded a compensation of 900000 yuan

Like wechat, 'boasting' is also an instant messaging application, but it can no longer be downloaded in the apple store. In the boasting software, in addition to chatting and sending expressions, it also has the function of sending and receiving red envelopes.

The above two functions are similar to the red envelope and expression of wechat, which has aroused Tencent's dissatisfaction. In April this year, Tencent asked Qingshu to pay a total of 5 million yuan for its infringement of network copyright and information network communication right and making profits through unfair competition:

The wechat expression involved in the case is original and constitutes an art work, which is copyrighted by the plaintiff (Tencent). Without permission, the defendant provided a chat expression exactly the same as the wechat expression involved in the case in its' boasting 'application software, which infringed on the plaintiff's right to information network communication. Accordingly, the plaintiff requests that the defendant compensate the plaintiff for economic losses and reasonable expenses totaling 500000 yuan.

The electronic red envelope page in the 'boasting' software of the defendant (Qingshu) is the same as or substantially similar to the plaintiff's' wechat red envelope chat bubble and open page ', which infringes the plaintiff's right to information network communication. " The related pages of wechat red envelope and the overall page composition of wechat have a certain impact on the decoration. As the operator of similar products and services, the defendant copied and fully imitated the whole process design, software interface and icon design of wechat red envelope, which is very easy to cause confusion or misunderstanding among the relevant public and constitute unfair competition. Accordingly, the plaintiff claimed 4.5 million yuan.

Wechat expression involved in the case (picture source: Beijing Internet court)

Qingshu argued that the plaintiff did not enjoy the copyright of the wechat expression involved in the case. Although the chat expression involved in the case constitutes an art work, the evidence in the case can not prove that the plaintiff enjoys the copyright; The defendant has stopped using the wechat expression involved in the case; The economic losses and reasonable expenses claimed by the plaintiff are too high and lack of legal basis.

Qingshu also said that the creation and design of the electronic red envelope comes from the physical red envelope in life, and the 'wechat red envelope' is not original; ' Wechat red envelope 'related pages and wechat overall pages do not constitute decoration with certain impact.

Source: Beijing Internet court

After hearing, the court held that wechat red envelope chat bubbles and opening pages were original and constituted art works; Wechat red envelope related pages constitute decoration that has a certain impact. It is found that the defendant infringed the information network communication right of the second plaintiff, ordered to stop the infringement and compensate the plaintiff for the economic loss of 100000 yuan. The court found that the defendant had committed unfair competition, ordered to stop the unfair competition and compensate Tencent computer company for its economic loss of 400000 yuan; In addition, the defendant was also ordered to compensate the plaintiff for the reasonable expenses of more than 90000 yuan.

In the wechat expression case, the court found that the wechat expression involved in the case was vivid, vivid and interesting, reflected a certain personalized choice and original expression, had aesthetic significance and constituted an art work. Tencent technology company enjoyed the copyright, and Tencent computer company also enjoyed the copyright of the wechat expression involved in the case according to the corresponding authorization. It was judged that the defendant constituted an infringement on the right of information network communication and compensated the plaintiff for the economic loss of 300000 yuan and reasonable expenses of more than 10000 yuan.

In the above two cases, the court ordered Qingshu to compensate Tencent for a total of 900000 yuan.

According to the Beijing business daily, sun Zhifeng, a partner of Zhuowei law firm, said that the measure of plagiarism is generally to consider the original elements of the work itself. High originality means that if the author invests more energy, the protection is strong. " However, the complexity of the work itself and the existence of the same or similar elements of the previous work are all original considerations, which are viewed from the perspective of rational people, and there is no specific numerical standard that can be quantified. "

In this case, the General Court of copyright infringement will consider two factors:

First, whether the alleged infringing works are substantially similar to the rights protection works;

Secondly, whether the creators and users of the alleged infringing works have come into contact with rights protection works.

Sun Zhifeng said that for the latter, generally, after the publication of rights protection works, even if they are contacted. " Tencent has provided creative manuscripts, updated logs and online articles to form a chain of evidence to prove that the works contained in the registration certificate belong to Tencent. In fact, it can be understood that whoever completes the creation first will seize a more favorable position. "

'covering face' expression has been registered by merchants and wechat red envelope design won awards

The business opportunities brought by wechat expressions used by hundreds of millions of people have been seized by many businesses.

Last September, someone found that this' cover face 'expression was registered as a trademark. China Trademark network information shows that the name of the applicant of the trademark is Jin Zhaoping. The approved goods / services of the trademark are category 25, covering clothing, baby suit, shoes, hats, socks, neckties, scarves, etc.

Source: China Trademark Information Network

Jin Zhaoping told the media that he applied only because he wanted to ensure that he could use it for fear of being robbed by others. He said that if the application is approved and other people use it, he will not intervene, 'there are so many fake, how to fight, and the judicial process is long.'

Tencent said that the face covering expression in the wechat daily small yellow face expression series was completed by three or four designers in five months, 'Tencent will file an objection application for the trademark within the legal time limit.'

Every Xiaobian (wechat: nbdnews) learned after consulting the China Trademark website today (21st) that from the process of Jin Zhaoping's trademark application, many trademark objection applications have been launched since November 2018, and the last one was on April 28, 2019, that is, the expression of 'covering face' has been registered as a trademark, which has not been passed at present.

Source: China Trademark Information Network

Tell us the story behind 'covering your face'.

According to Tencent's official account "wechat moment", expression designers found that the expression with face covering action appeared frequently in their personal collection bag, and the "face covering" plan was generated.

It happens that there is a post-80s Ge Ge Ge in Guangdong in the expression design team. He is a fan of Stephen Chow's exaggerated 'covering his face'. I also love covering my face every day.

It can be said that 'speaking by oneself' has created such a vivid expression.

But did you know that the expression of [covering face] has been revised five times:

Image source: wechat moment

The wechat expression team described this son as follows:

Although it is difficult to say what [covering your face] means, this expression does express the new aspirations of many people.

The graphical user interface of Tencent mobile phone red envelope won the 19th China Patent Gold Award (design patent). This is the first time that this type of patent has won this honor since China included the product design involving GUI (graphical user interface) into the protection object of design patent on May 1, 2014.

According to Mo Yimin, the visual director of Tencent fit financial market department of China Youth Daily, this version of Tencent mobile phone red envelope presented by the award-winning patent appears in the form of dialogue bubble. From the dialogue bubble to clicking to receive and 'dismantle' to open the red envelope, in the process of sending and receiving the red envelope, the design of each interface is in line with the red envelope in real life in detail, It aims to restore the same sense of joy as getting the real red envelope for users.

In addition, the data disclosed by Tencent at the end of last year showed that Tencent applied for more than 150 red envelope patents and authorized more than 80 patents worldwide.