Controversies

Shanghai Animation Film Studio and original creators face off in court over copyright ownership of 'Calabash Brothers' and 'Avanti' character designs

Shanghai Animation Film Studio and Calabash Brothers creators Hu Jinqing and Wu Yunchu litigated over the copyright ownership of the 'Calabash Brothers' character design; the court found that the design was a work made for hire and that economic copyrights other than the right of attribution belonged to the studio; in the dispute over ownership of the 'Avanti' design, the court found that the studio and author Qu Jianfang shared the economic rights. The studio also repeatedly sued others for using its classic images; it lost a suit over the use of 'Calabash Brothers' and 'Black Cat Detective' in film posters after the use was found to be fair use, and won RMB 12,000 and RMB 11,000 from Tianlian Advertising and an e-commerce seller, respectively, over their use of 'Q-version Sun Wukong'. Impact and handling: the series of cases triggered discussion about the allocation of rights between state-owned film studios and older-generation creators. Progress: court judgments. Subject: Shanghai Animation Film Studio Co., Ltd. Scope: copyright in Shanghai Animation Film Studio's classic animation images.