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Zhong Lun Represents Talent Agency in Landmark Unfair Competition Case against Stills Licensing Company, Securing CNY 1 Million in Damages
Zhong Lun Represents Talent Agency in Landmark Unfair Competition Case against Stills Licensing Company, Securing CNY 1 Million in Damages
Recently, Baiyun District People’s Court, Guangzhou issued a first-instance judgment, which has since taken effect, in an unfair competition dispute brought by a prominent talent agency against a stills licensing company. The court found the defendant liable for unfair competition, ordering it to issue a public apology and pay the plaintiff CNY 1 million in damages for economic loss, plus reasonable costs including attorneys’ fees.
This case concerns the so-called “stills licensing” business model prevalent in the industry. Operators in this space (i.e., “stills licensing companies”) typically claim to have obtained authorization from the copyright holders of film and television works and, without the consent of the artist or their agency, provide the artist’s likeness and name to third-party merchants for commercial promotion under the guise of “stills licensing”. This model circumvents the portrait-rights licensing that should be properly obtained from the artist, and in most cases, the chain of title underlying the copyright license is also unclear. In effect, the model profits from exploiting artists’ images while shifting infringement risks to third-party end merchants, making it a long-standing industry malpractice and a persistent governance challenge. Historically, rights-protection efforts have focused primarily on pursuing end merchants for portrait-rights infringement, without addressing the source of this grey industry chain.
Zhong Lun partner Haijun Zhang and associate Zhe Du pinpointed the essence of the dispute and innovatively pursued an unfair competition claim, with the aim of invoking the Anti-Unfair Competition Law to target the source of this grey industry chain. Following thorough submissions by the team, the court expressly held in its judgment that artists’ likenesses and names can give rise to commodifiable commercial value and interests, and therefore constitute legally protected interests under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. This effectively establishes a viable pathway under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law for protecting the commercialization interests attaching to personality rights in the entertainment industry.
This case is expected to serve as a benchmark for similar disputes, offering artists and talent agencies a replicable rights-protection model. It will also encourage the industry to shift its enforcement focus toward the source of unlawful licensing, helping to bring order to the relevant market.
