In Hua Xia's private economy, there were a large number of small and micro enterprises, and even workshops that had not even registered companies.
Especially in the field of small goods manufacturing, family-style workshops contributed almost half of the output value.
Among them, 99.99% of enterprises or workshops had no awareness of copyright.
For example, there was a workshop in Yiwu that specialized in producing stickers. The stickers they produced were mainly sold to primary and secondary school students. Their stickers not only included all the popular Hua Xia stars in the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, but even Japanese, Korean, European, and American stars were included. Not only did they produce a large number of star stickers, but they also produced a large number of film and TV series stills stickers, as well as cartoon and comic image stickers. This workshop may produce 10,000 types of stickers a year, using countless portrait copyrights, film copyrights, and cartoon character copyrights, but absolutely none of them had a real licensing chain.
In other words, such a workshop could produce 10,000 types of products a year, and the rate of genuine copies was 0%, while the rate of pirated copies was 100%!
They would produce anything that was popular, such as Princess Bride, Meteor Garden, Sailor Moon, Soccer Player, Slam Dunk, Michael Jackson, and Hot. In short, as long as it was something that was popular at this stage, they would immediately bring it over for production, regardless of copyright or law.
It was the same for the star posters sold at the entrance of various primary and secondary schools. The posters that boys liked to buy were priced at one and a half yuan, and the bigger ones were priced at two and a half yuan. It was estimated that billions of posters could be sold in the country in a year. Among them, there was not a single cent that could go into the pockets of copyright owners like Chen Haonan or Shanji.
Not to mention the cartoon peripherals in the domestic market at this stage. Basically, if there was a one in ten thousand chance of genuine copies, they would be burning incense.
Now, Panda Bear was popular all over the world. From children to adults, middle-aged people, and the elderly, they could not help but laugh at this image, because this image had long been popular not only on the Internet, but had already entered the offline life with the media.
Therefore, a large number of small goods workshops and enterprises in the south began to shift their targets, concentrating most of their production capacity on the production of Panda Bear peripherals.
The market also had a high degree of recognition for these products. Basically, as long as they were on the market, they would be snatched up completely.
What was even more infuriating was that many people had set their sights on the overseas market. One after another, pirated peripherals began to be sent to the overseas market.
In Li Mu's eyes, these small merchants and peddlers were as disgusting as parasites. These people could only survive by sucking the blood of others. If they left the body of others, they would not even have the ability to survive. Moreover, they would often swarm towards the most perfect target, just like the pandas now. Thousands of pirated parasites were madly sucking blood. When the pandas had been sucked dry, everyone would rush to the next target.
In such a market environment, the original products were almost eliminated. For example, the popular Pikachu in recent years, if it was a legitimate product produced by a legitimate company, not only would the cost of raw materials and manufacturing cost be included, but there was also the high cost of copyright and various tax costs.
For a Pikachu doll of the same size, even if the original and pirated versions had the same workmanship and materials, the original company would have to bear at least one or two yuan of copyright costs, while the pirated company would not have to pay a single cent.
Moreover, small pirated workshops were generally operated by individuals and were not registered enterprises. Therefore, their manufacturing process did not need to pay a single cent tax rate to the tax authorities. However, a company not only had to pay corporate income tax, but also some additional taxes.
To be more specific, the cost of workers in pirated workshops was much lower than that of legitimate companies because they only paid wages to the workers and did not pay social security and personal taxes.
As a result, the cost of the original product may be more than double that of the pirated company. Even if the pirated company sold the original product at the cost price, they could still make a lot of money. However, the original company would be miserable. Even if the price was lowered to the same level as the pirated product, it would not be enough to cover the cost. Therefore, they could only raise the price. Once the price was raised, there would be no competitiveness. At this stage, most consumers were not aware of the original pirated products. They only bought the one with the highest cost-performance ratio.
Li Mu naturally could not allow these pirated companies to ruin the image of the pandas, so he personally took charge. Not only did he organize a rights protection team, but he even took the initiative to communicate with the Industry and Commerce Department.
The Industry and Commerce Department received Makino Technology's request for assistance and attached great importance to it. This was because the pandas were different from other cartoon images.
First of all, the pandas were the first locally born cartoon image to become popular all over the world. It was of great significance.
Secondly, the pandas represented Hua Xia's panda tourism. It was equivalent to the cartoon messenger and image spokesperson of Hua Xia's tourism in the overseas market. It even represented the image of the national tourism culture to a certain extent.
What's more, its copyright holder was Makino Technology. Hua Xia was currently the company with the highest valuation, and even the highest valuation in the world. It was currently the overseas business card of Hua Xia's enterprises. The leaders from top to bottom attached great importance to it. The necessary protection and escort must be given.
Under such circumstances, Li Mu personally came forward and held a closed-door meeting with the Industry and Commerce Department.
At the meeting, Li Mu personally explained to the leaders of the Industry and Commerce Department the current popularity of the pandas received worldwide, including the frequency of use by the global netizens, the popularity of discussions, the popularity of media reports, and the popularity of companies applying for copyright cooperation.
The leaders of the Industry and Commerce Department did not expect the pandas to be so popular all over the world.
Just the list of hundreds of thousands of companies applying for copyright cooperation around the world made them stunned.
Li Mu said, "Dear leaders, at this stage, in countries and regions where copyright protection is relatively in place, companies are applying for legal authorization of the copyright of the panda bear image through our official application process. However, there are already hundreds of cases of companies and individuals illegally using the panda bear image in China. If necessary intervention is not taken, the situation of the panda bear image being pirated in China will become more and more serious. When the time comes, shoddy pirated panda bear image and products will flood the entire country and even overseas markets, which will cause a huge impact on the development of the panda bear image itself. Therefore, we sincerely hope that the Industry and Commerce Department can assist Ye Muye to protect its rights on a national scale and protect the healthy development of the panda bear image."
The Industry and Commerce Department also immediately attached importance to this issue. This was not only a matter of copyright infringement, but also the international image of pandas and even the international image of Hua Xia's tourism. In the past, they could turn a blind eye to these copyright infringements, but this time, it was a matter of great importance. They could not relax no matter what.
Subsequently, the leaders of the Industry and Commerce Department immediately expressed that they would strengthen the crackdown on pirated pandas and related issues nationwide.
Li Mu also expressed on the spot, "Makino Technology has already confirmed cooperation with law firms in provincial capitals all over the country. At that time, we will entrust them to sue for piracy in any city in the country. In order to put an end to piracy, we have already passed a 100 million yuan budget for rights protection. At that time, we will file civil lawsuits against infringers nationwide. We also hope that the Industry and Commerce Department can support our rights protection work. If criminal crimes are involved, we will need to communicate with the public prosecutors through the Industry and Commerce Department."
Makino Technology's legal department was very efficient. They had already established cooperation with the top law firms in 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government. Makino Technology would entrust them to help Makino Technology to protect the image of pandas and bears in their respective provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. This time, Li Mu's goal was to not let go of a single pirate.
For Li Mu, if pirates or individuals were simply making money from his company, he would not spend so much effort to eliminate them. However, piracy also depended on the situation. The strategic significance of pandas and bears was extremely important. No matter what, they could not be dragged into the mud by piracy.
Not only pandas and bears, but there was also "Flying Tigers", which was going to be released this year. This movie also had great strategic significance. If pirates were to target it, he would definitely make them bankrupt.
Therefore, Li Mu decided that even if the cost of protecting rights was high, Makino Technology would gladly accept it. If a manufacturer made 100,000 yuan by pirating pandas and bears, then Makino Technology could spend 200,000 yuan to force them to spit out the 100,000 yuan and send them to prison.
If a self-employed person made 1,000 yuan by pirating pandas and bears, Makino Technology would also find him and spend several times or even more than ten times the cost to make him bear the corresponding legal liability after all the illegal income was returned.
Subsequently, the Department of Industry and Commerce issued a document to the country, requiring all departments of industry and commerce to strictly investigate the counterfeiting and counterfeiting of pandas and bears within their jurisdiction. There were three requirements:
First, detect counterfeiting as early as possible and stop the infringement as early as possible.
Second, all the produced goods must be recovered and destroyed.
Third, cooperate with the public security authorities to deal with enterprises and individuals that produce and sell pirated products. Both administrative and criminal penalties should be carried out.
Moreover, the Department of Industry and Commerce also gave work instructions in the document.
They required all departments of industry and commerce to start directly from the market. As long as pirated goods were found circulating in the market, they would immediately ask the seller, and then trace the source step by step until the person responsible for the production company was found.
If the company that produced and sold pirated goods was a company, the Department of Industry and Commerce would directly seal up the company and impose administrative penalties. Based on the quantity and market value of pirated goods, they would decide whether to transfer it to the public security authorities. In theory, as long as the standards for filing a case were met, it must be transferred to the public security authorities for trial.
If the company that produced and sold pirated goods was an individual, it would be directly banned and the illegal income confiscated. If the criminal law was violated, criminal liability would be pursued according to the crime of illegal business operation and the crime of infringement of intellectual property rights.
As soon as this document was issued, the departments of industry and commerce immediately regarded it as one of the most important tasks in the near future. They immediately began to actively prepare for a nationwide campaign to crack down on piracy.
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