(CRI) Two Chinese companies which made the cartoon film "The Autobots" have been ordered to compensate Disney and Pixar 1.35 million yuan(USD 194,147) for copyright infringement.
A court in Shanghai ruled that The Autobots, produced by Xiamen Blue MTV and released by Beijing G-Point Film in July, 2015, copied the famous cartoon film "Cars" and "Cars 2" by the two Disney subsidiaries.
Of the 1.35 million yuan compensation, about 350,000 yuan(USD 50,392 ) is to cover litigation costs which had been spent by the plaintiff.
As per the court, characters K1 and K2 in "The Autobots" resembled the Lightning McQueen and Francesco Bernoulli characters from the 2006 and 2011 "Cars" movies.
The poster for the Chinese movie was found to have substantial similarity with the one for "Cars 2" released years earlier.
Further, the Chinese name for the Disney cartoon film "Cars" is "Qiche Zongdongyuan" while the name for "The Autobots" translates to "Qicheren Zongdongyuan."
Also, the Chinese companies put a tyre over the word "ren" on the poster, making their poster appear to say "Qiche Zongdongyuan." It was ruled that that constitutes an unauthorized usage of a well-known commodity's specific name.
The makers of "The Autobots" had insisted their movie was an independent, domestically-made film which would not mislead the audiences regarding the Disney-Pixar films.
"In the process of creation, simple design ideas should not be monopolized, reasonable reference is allowable. But other people's original expression should not be copied." said Shao Xun, the judge who heard the case.
Shao said there is a price to pay for plagiarism in the end.
It's reported that the defendants made nothing from "The Autobots" box office after paying taxes, profit sharing, and publicity costs.
Source: CRI