In this era of fragmented entertainment, with the rise of short videos and other forms of entertainment, many music pieces have been cut into segments for use. However, even if the songs are only a few seconds long, they must comply with copyright laws in order to effectively avoid infringement risks.
Fragmented use ≠ legal use!
Recently, a certain automotive technology company was sued by the copyright owner for unauthorized use of a 10 second music clip by a certain singer in a promotional video.
The company involved immediately announced through its official Weibo account that it had removed the disputed content and initiated an internal audit mechanism as soon as possible. Currently, it is collaborating with independent media and copyright agencies to promote tripartite negotiations, promising to improve the copyright review system to prevent similar incidents.
This dispute has once again raised public concerns about the compliance of music copyright usage in commercial activities.
There is a common misconception in the current short video, live streaming and other fields that using short music clips does not require authorization.
In fact, according to China's Copyright Law, music works enjoy copyright from the moment they are created, and the unauthorized use of any length segment may constitute infringement. Even if only the climax or iconic melody of the work is used, if it cannot meet the requirements of "reasonable use", corresponding responsibilities must still be borne.
In judicial practice, determining whether it constitutes reasonable use requires comprehensive consideration of multiple factors:
1. Including the degree of transformative creativity in usage behavior and the proportion of quality in the cited parts of the original work.
2. The commercial attributes of the intended use and the potential impact on the market value of the original work.
According to the Guangzhou Sailixin Intellectual Property Litigation Database, a bank was ordered to pay 4500 yuan for using the background music of "You Laugh So Good" in a 170 second short video; A certain live streaming platform is liable for compensation of 5200 yuan for the 70 second segment of "Lover's Heart" played by the anchor.
These precedents confirm that the duration of use is not the only criterion for judgment.
Third party authorization ≠ Disclaimer Gold Medal
It is worth noting that the parties involved often argue that the content comes from third-party partners and is authorized by a third party.
However, in judicial practice, end users cannot claim exemption from liability by obtaining third-party authorization, and such defenses are generally not adopted. Even if the commission agreement stipulates intellectual property defect guarantee clauses, the commissioning party still needs to bear the infringement liability first and then recover from the entrusted party later.
Upgrading Copyright Awareness in the Era of National Creativity
With the explosive growth of UGC content, fragmented use of music works has become the norm.
Secondary creation activities, such as "cutting" of film and television works, "freezing" of dance movements, and "embedding" of background music, may constitute infringement, although they involve the use of a small amount of materials, as long as they have the core expression of the work and can be recognized by the public, especially when the use part contains the "memory points" or "essence paragraphs" of the work, the probability of infringement determination increases significantly.
Copyright protection does not decrease with the level of use, and commercial entities should abandon the lucky mentality of "minimal use is not hindered" and establish a systematic copyright review mechanism.
Only through the full process management of prior authorization, in-process compliance review, and post dispute resolution can legal risks be effectively avoided in the era of creative economy.