After investigation, the police found that the suspect obtained the source of the film through downloading from overseas piracy forum websites, hired people to translate and compress the film, and then disseminated it to the public. The criminal suspect Liang and others have successively established a number of companies, set up and rented servers at home and abroad, developed, operated and maintained the "Renren Film and Television Subtitle Group" APP and related websites, and collected website membership fees, advertising fees and sold recordings. Infringing film and television works, mobile hard drives and other means are used to illegally make profits. Preliminary verification shows that it has published more than 20,000 film and television works and has more than 8 million registered members.
China Business News found that the Renren Film and Television web page still exists, but clicking on the viewing link shows "Thank you for your support, we are making adjustments." The official Weibo of Renren Film and Television subtitle group also stayed on January 4 and has not been updated. Intellectual property lawyer You Yunting, a senior partner at Shanghai Dabang Law Firm, told China Business News that the Renren Film and Television subtitle group's act of providing online streaming and downloading of film and television drama services and making profits is suspected of constituting a crime of copyright infringement.
According to Article 217 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the crime of copyright infringement refers to the reproduction and distribution of text, audio-visual, computer software and other works without the permission of the copyright owner for the purpose of profit, and the publication of which others enjoy the exclusive right to publish. Books, reproduction and distribution of audio-visual products produced without the permission of the producer, production and exhibition of art works counterfeiting the signature of others, illegal gains of large amounts or other serious circumstances.
What are the penalties for copyright infringement? You Yunting said he may be sentenced to up to seven years in prison and fined depending on the circumstances. If the case is committed after March 2021, the new criminal law will take effect and the maximum sentence will become 10 years.
In order to avoid legal risks, many subtitle groups position themselves as "communication forums for film and television drama lovers" and include disclaimers such as "for fans to communicate" and "not for commercial use" in their resources. However, lawyer You Yunting told reporters that whether it is for a fee or for commercial use is not a condition for exemption. If the copyright owner pursues the case, it will at least constitute a civil infringement.
Has faced closure many times
For drama fans, especially those who love American dramas, the platform "Renren Film and Television" is no stranger. Renren Film and Television was formerly known as "YYeTs Subtitle Group", which was founded in 2004. It originated from the spontaneous subtitle production of American drama lovers. In 2006, Renren Film and Television established the "YYeTs American Drama Forum" to share popular and classic American dramas. In 2007, YYeTs subtitle group was officially renamed to today’s “Renren Film and Television Subtitle Group”.
This is not the first time Renren Film and Television has faced closure.
On August 19, 2010, the website of Renren Film and Television was shut down for the first time and the server was confiscated. A few days later, the Renren Film and Television website announced that it was preparing to move its servers overseas and publicly solicited donations from netizens through a "donation statement" to purchase new technical equipment.
In October 2014, Renren Video was named a piracy website by the Motion Picture Association of America. A month later, Renren Film and Television was suspected of distributing pirated products, and some of its servers were shut down. It is reported that the Copyright Office has seized five servers of Renren Film and Television because of "unauthorized translation of film and television works." In December, the Renren Film and Television website officially closed, saying "there are better channels to replace us now."
In February 2015, Renren Film and Television transformed the American drama community back online and established a forum mainly for sharing and publishing film and television information. It said that it would no longer publish film and television resources, but there were still alternative accounts in the forum to publish built-in subtitles, external subtitles and film and television download links. .
In terms of handling copyright, relevant information shows that Renren Film and Television has tried to cooperate with copyright owners. For example, in 2017, it cooperated with the Pingyao International Film Festival to complete the translation of more than 40 participating films, and in July 2018, it cooperated with Tianjin Sports IPTV to translate and produce leisure sports videos. wait.
The tragedy of subtitle group profit
It is understood that Renren Film and Television’s income is mainly divided into three parts, namely membership income, advertising income and sales of hard drives. In addition, the official website shows that Renren Film and Television is also engaged in commercial translation cooperation, dictionaries and other businesses.
Renren Film and Television first sold hard drives in 2011. At that time, it was the fifth anniversary of the founding of the subtitle group. Renren Film and Television launched a "group purchase hard drive" activity, selling hard drives containing film and television resources, priced at 699 yuan, 1399 yuan, and 1980 yuan. In 2017, Renren Film and Television released information about the sale of hard drives again, and launched 7 sales plans based on the size of the hard drive capacity and content resources. Depending on the number of resources included, the price ranges from 3,000 yuan to 25,000 yuan.
In terms of funding, Renren Film and Television has been facing considerable pressure.
In August 2017, Renren Film and Television posted on Weibo that it had financial problems, saying that it had little reserve funds left due to the development of the client. It hoped that netizens would download and register a game to help obtain promotion fees. In March 2018, Renren Film and Television announced through its official Weibo that it would try to accept digital currency donations, thereby reducing the bandwidth pressure and development expenditure pressure on the client. It also attached the addresses of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin wallets that accept donations on the official website. . A senior user recalled, "If you donate 200 yuan, you can get unlimited VIP, unlimited online viewing rights on APP and TV, and free advertising rights."
In terms of expenditure, the work of the subtitle team is mostly voluntary labor, and the actual personnel expenditure costs are not high. A relevant person who has been working in the subtitle team for a year told China Business News, “The work of the subtitle team is subdivided into timelines, translators, proofreaders, etc. The translation of a drama series requires 4 or 5 people at most, and 2 or 3 people at least. Volunteers are usually recruited through social platforms such as Weibo and public accounts, and most of the participants are students out of interest and are not paid."
"The business model of the subtitle group is very problematic," You Yunting said. "Translating and publishing subtitles without permission infringes upon the copyright holder's translation rights, which is a civil infringement. If the subtitles are released together with the video, it will infringe on the right of information network dissemination, and you will be sued. You have to pay money. If you download for a fee or open a membership, your income may violate the criminal law if your income reaches a certain level."
As the content supply ecosystem changes and copyright supervision becomes increasingly strict, the ecology of "subtitle groups" wandering on the edge of the law will also become more difficult.
