CATDOLL: "Big Head Son and Small Head Dad" claims 1.6 million from CCTV

Recently, Hangzhou Big Head Son and Small Head Dad Cultural Development Co., Ltd. took CCTV Animation to court, claiming that CCTV adapted the characters of "Big Head Son and Small Head Dad" into new characters without its permission and without paying any remuneration, and exhibited and promoted the new characters, infringing the plaintiff's copyright to the artwork. The three cases involving the images of Big Head Son, Small Head Dad, and Apron Mom demanded a total of 1.6 million yuan in compensation.

Case Overview:

Time: 9:00 a.m. on February 9

Location: Courtroom No. 3, Binjiang Court

Plaintiff: Hangzhou Big Head Son Little Head Father Cultural Development Co., Ltd.

Defendant: CCTV Animation Co., Ltd.

Reason for action: The plaintiff claimed that the defendant, without the plaintiff's permission and without payment, adapted the character image into a new one in 2013, launched "New Big Head Son and Small Head Dad", and exhibited and promoted the new character image, thereby infringing the plaintiff's copyright in the artwork.

The Hangzhou Big Head Son and Small Head Dad Company demanded from CCTV Animation a total of 1.6 million yuan in compensation for the three animated characters plus attorney fees.

Plaintiff: CCTV Animation does not have copyright over animated characters

"Big Head Son and Small Head Dad" is a popular cartoon jointly produced by CCTV and Shanghai Oriental TV in 1995. According to the signature of the cartoon, the styling is Liu Zedai.

Hangzhou Big Head Son and Small Head Dad Company said that Liu Zedai has never authorized CCTV to use the copyright of the images of "Big Head Son and Small Head Dad" and the apron mother. CCTV can only enjoy the copyright of the 1995 version of the cartoon, but not the three works of art themselves.

After that, in 2013, CCTV Animation Company launched the New Big Head Son and Small Head Dad animated TV series and movie, adapting the story and the images of Big Head Son and Small Head Dad.

Defendant: The plaintiff established a new company to steal the fruits of his labor

This claim was denied by CCTV Animation. CCTV Animation responded in court today that the creation process of the image of Big Head Son and Small Head Dad was not as the plaintiff said. "At that time, the director found Liu Zedai and said he wanted to make an animation. Later, at the request of the director and others, Liu Zedai drew three pictures on the spot, which were the prototypes of Big Head Son, Small Head Dad and Apron Mom. In addition, it was verbally agreed that the copyright of this animation image belonged to CCTV. CCTV signed the name of the image designer as Liu Zedai in the TV series out of respect for Liu Zedai."

CCTV Animation said that the animated images of the 1995 version of Big Head Son and Small Head Dad were processed and produced by the crew and were the result of collective creation, including the subsequent deepening of the image from five angles, and Liu Zedai only completed the first step.

CCTV Animation also broke a piece of news in court: Hangzhou Big Head Son and Small Head Dad Company was deliberately stealing the fruits of other people's labor.

Why do you say that? CCTV Animation said that around 2013, they learned that CCTV Animation was going to remake Big Head Son and Little Head Dad, so they approached CCTV Animation to cooperate, but the deal fell through. CCTV Animation said that during this period, Hong Liang of the Hangzhou Big Head Son and Little Head Dad company learned that there was no written copyright authorization between Liu Zedai and CCTV, so he induced Liu Zedai to sign a copyright transfer agreement with the plaintiff.

The court said it will announce the verdict on this case at a later date.