Golden Rooster Film Academy · Film and TV Intellectual Property Protection

Rules in Law, No Borders in Film: Protecting and Creating Intellectual Property in the Film and TV Industry

Future competition will be competition over intellectual property. Protecting the rights of original creators adds value both culturally and commercially and gives film and TV professionals a firm footing. In the “Intellectual Property Law” session of the Film Market Academy, several lawyers drew on their practice to explain intellectual property protection in film and TV production to young filmmakers.

Lawyer Li Weihua examined the limits of adaptation rights through well-known cases, including Youth and the adaptation disputes over Jin Yong’s novels. “Reasonable borrowing is not the same as free adaptation,” he said. “When young directors draw on the settings or subject matter of other people’s works, they need to keep within clear limits.” Using concrete legal examples, he helped young filmmakers understand the lawful scope of adaptation and avoid copyright disputes. Lawyer Yong Ning addressed directors’ rights of authorship and remuneration, explaining how these rights are protected for film works, and advised young directors to pay attention to contract terms when signing so that the interests of production companies do not override their own.

Intellectual property protection safeguards creative freedom, and working within the law allows art to develop. The session answered young creators’ copyright questions about their work and encouraged them to help maintain the space for artistic freedom under the rule of law, bringing new energy to Chinese cinema now and in the future.