The second instance verdict of Jay Chou's lawsuit against NetEase's "Tianxia 3" for unfair competition has been released.
According to Cover News on August 29th, the final verdict of the lawsuit between Jay Chou, JVR Music Co., Ltd., Guangzhou NetEase Computer System Co., Ltd. and other related parties has been announced recently. On August 29th, Cover News reporters confirmed from multiple relevant sources on "Tianxia 3" that the second instance court upheld the original verdict, ruled against Jewell, and rejected all claims for compensation of 2.05 million yuan.
According to the judgment obtained by The Paper, the second trial found that Jay Chou and Jay Chou's company failed to provide evidence to prove that NetEase and NetEase Thunderfire obtained competitive benefits through the above-mentioned actions, or seized the economic benefits generated by Jay Chou and Jay Chou's company through album releases and concerts. From the comments of relevant consumers on platforms such as Weibo, it can be seen that there is no corresponding association or confusion between the products and services provided by NetEase and NetEase Thunderfire and Jay Chou and JVR companies.
The court found that the hot search topics, entries, and promotional reports related to Jay Chou's new album are extremely common, and the behavior of "Tianxia 3" Weibo self funded forwarding lottery and other feedback to players has no profit-making nature, does not violate the principles of integrity and business ethics, and is difficult to make the public associate Jay Chou with the game through endorsement, authorization, etc. Therefore, the accused behavior of "Tianxia 3" does not constitute unfair competition.
Regarding the verdict, Lawyer Jia Changwei, a partner at Beijing Jincheng Tongda (Shenzhen) Law Firm, stated that as public figures, especially well-known celebrities, it is very common and unavoidable for them to become public topics. Therefore, they should bear a certain degree of tolerance obligation. "The law does not explicitly prohibit the use or attachment of celebrity topics in normal business activities. As public figures, celebrities should allow others to initiate or participate in celebrity topics normally
Jia Changwei believes that in cases involving celebrity related rights, the judiciary should respect industrial laws and meet the needs of social development. On the one hand, the court should support the rights holders to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law, including the protection of reputation, privacy, and portrait rights, to ensure that celebrities can enjoy the same legal rights as ordinary citizens. On the other hand, the court should also prevent related lawsuits from being abused into 'commercial rights protection' and consuming judicial resources. In the case where the market can self regulate and resolve competition conflicts, the law should exercise restraint, avoid excessive intervention, prioritize the resolution of competition conflicts to market mechanisms, and avoid the improper expansion of the scope of unfair competition behavior recognition due to the abuse of general terms
According to Red Star News, in July 2022, Jay Chou released his new album "The Greatest Work". On April 17, 2023, Jay Chou sued NetEase for unfair competition. The reason was that NetEase had used the elements of Jay Chou's new album as game props when promoting its game "Tianxia 3" in 2022, and held a forwarding lottery on its official Sina Weibo account to give away Jay Chou's new digital album and concert tickets.
Jieweifang believes that NetEase's above-mentioned behavior constitutes unfair competition by taking advantage of Jay Chou's super high popularity, the super high popularity of his new album, and the widespread dissemination of his music works to attract game traffic and increase the ultimate profit of game users. He demands that NetEase publicly publish a statement and compensate for economic losses of 2 million yuan and reasonable rights protection expenses of 50000 yuan.
On July 11th, Jay Chou announced that he will take legal measures against the unauthorized gift of Jay Chou's new album and concert tickets by "Tianxia 3". After the announcement was released, "Tianxia 3" immediately deleted the relevant activities and issued a clarification notice, indicating that the lottery activity was only for giving back to old users.
On April 17, 2023, JVR filed a lawsuit against three main companies related to "Tianxia 3" on the grounds of unfair competition. The case was publicly tried in the first instance at the Binjiang District People's Court in Hangzhou, and the court announced a scheduled verdict.
On March 19, 2024, information related to "Jay Chou's first instance lawsuit against NetEase" exploded on the hot search list, ranking first on the hot search list.
It is reported that the court analyzed and judged the focus of the case on whether the defendant's behavior constituted unfair competition one by one, and finally determined that all the accused behaviors of the defendant "Tianxia 3" did not constitute unfair competition, and rejected all the litigation requests such as the 2.05 million yuan claim of Jieweier.
In response to Jay Chou's claim that the gift giveaway of Jay Chou's new album to players by "Tianxia 3" in July 2023, without official authorization, constitutes unfair competition, the court has determined that Weibo reposting lottery is a common activity. A large number of social media accounts hold reposting lottery activities for Jay Chou's albums or concert tickets, making it difficult for the public to mistakenly believe that there is a specific relationship between the lottery party and Jay Chou, such as endorsement.
At the same time, the court also rejected Jewell's claim that "World 3" made elements from Jay Chou's new album into game props for sale in the game. The court determined that the "game props" are only "vouchers" for album exchange, and the activity is only open to old players above level 20 of the game, and does not have the nature of attracting new customers or making profits, and does not constitute unfair competition.
Daily Economic News Comprehensive Cover News, Red Star News, The Paper News, Public Information