Cover reporter Zhou Qin Xu Yuyang
Wang Xinling, who became popular on the stage of “Sister Lang” because of “Love You”, has recently caused heated discussions because of her group’s performance of “Lighting the Stars”. In the original lyrics, “the sky is now a dirty sky, and the stars can no longer be seen in the civilized sky” became “it is a sunny sky, always visible”.
On the evening of July 3, Zheng Zhihua, the songwriter and original singer of “Lighting the Stars”, expressed “shock, anger and regret”. Is it copyright infringement to modify lyrics? Lawyer Yu Long of Beijing Weiheng (Chengdu) Law Firm believes that according to Zheng Zhihua’s personal Weibo and the song modification that can be seen in “Sister Lang 3”, it should fall within the protection scope of the right to modify in the copyright. It is indeed not authorized by the creator and should be considered as infringement.
Wang Xinling’s group performs “The Lights of the Stars”
Recently, in the third season of “Riding the Wind and Waves”, Wang Xinling’s group Wang Xinling, Zhang Tianai, Gillian, Ah Sa, and Wu Jinyan performed Zheng Zhihua’s classic song “The Stars Light Up”. The inspirational and desolate feeling in the original song has been replaced by Rap and sweet beauty. The lyrics that are familiar to many people in the original lyrics, “The current sky is a dirty sky, the stars are in the civilized sky, and can never be seen again” has also been changed to “The current sky is a sunny sky. , the stars are always visible in the civilized sky.”
“Lighting the Stars” was written and composed by Zheng Zhihua. Zheng Zhihua said that he wrote this song in the car, and the little stars he saw in the car window was the inspiration for him to write this song. People will inevitably encounter times of discouragement, hesitation, and helplessness in their life. Zheng Zhihua wrote this song, hoping to give people encouragement. On the evening of the 3rd, Zheng Zhihua said on his personal Weibo, “I am shocked, angry and regretful that the lyrics of my classic song ‘The Stars Light’ has been changed indiscriminately.”
Zheng Zhihua’s response on Weibo
The revision of the lyrics has also sparked a lot of discussion. Some netizens said that changing a classic song that is popular in the streets and alleys beyond recognition is unacceptable to all fans who like the original flavor. Some netizens also suggested that in the CCTV program, the singer sang an adapted version, and said that the lyrics adaptation had nothing to do with Zheng Zhihua, “The copyright of this song seems to be in Warner, what does it have to do with Mr. Zheng?” Of course, there are also Many people support Zheng Zhihua, “Copyright can’t change that someone is the original author, how can he be so overbearing that the original author is not qualified to comment on the adaptation? What does this have to do with copyright?”
The cover reporter contacted and interviewed Yu Long, a lawyer from Beijing Weiheng (Chengdu) Law Firm. Yu Long said that according to the content of Zheng Zhihua’s personal Weibo, and the song modification that can be seen in “Sister Lang 3”, it should fall within the protection scope of the modification right in the copyright. considered as infringement.
Yu Long explained that the part of the lyrics of a musical work can form a separate copyright, and the modification and use of the lyrics should be subject to the permission of the rights holder. For the adjustment of lyrics, it generally involves the right of modification, the right to protect the integrity of the work, and the right to adapt. The right to modify refers to the right to modify or authorize others to modify the work; the right to protect the integrity of the work refers to the right to protect the work from being distorted and tampered with; the right to adaptation refers to the right to change the work and create a new work with originality. In general understanding, when the lyrics are deeply adapted, it can be understood as falling within the protection scope of the right of adaptation.
What needs to be clarified is that there are many rights items under copyright, which are generally divided into personal rights and copyright property rights, of which copyright property rights are transferable rights. For example, the right to modify and the right to protect the integrity of the work belong to the personal rights of the author. These two rights are legally non-transferable rights and should be directly enjoyed by the author of the work (but the author’s exercise of the aforementioned rights should also be subject to the relevant contracts signed by the author). The right of adaptation belongs to the property right of copyright and can be transferred.
Therefore, for the specific event of “Lighting the Stars”, even if the program team has obtained the right to adapt the song according to law, it should obtain the permission of the copyright owner when modifying the lyrics. Because the right to modify the lyrics is the personal right of the copyright and is not transferable.
However, Yu Long also explained that in the specific handling of the incident, we should be cautious, because the network information is not the whole picture after all. Whether it really constitutes infringement, it should be determined according to the specific licensing conditions of the work “Lighting the Stars”.Return to Sohu, see more
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