A series of cartoon emojis created depicting characters from the popular television drama All is Well have raised questions online as to whether a copyright infringement has occurred or not. The questions voiced include whether the creator of the emojis can claim independent intellectual property rights or whether the rights of others have been infringed-such as those of the character depicted, Su Daqiang, and Ni Dahong, the actor who portrays him, as well as those of the drama's production company, online news portal Chinanews reported. With the rising popularity of the TV drama, the emojis in question have been abused among TV programs, commercial advertisements and Sina Weibo marketing accounts. Liu Qian, the creator of the emojis and who has not profited from them, told Chinanews that she hadn't paid any attention to whether there might be any copyright issues until they were raised by people online. No definitive answers to the questions raised have been provided. Liu said she is confused as to whether she can create more emojis based on popular characters. The images of the cast are generally allowed to be used for film promotion within their employment contracts, but the producer needs to obtain additional authorization from celebrities, for adaptation of the images for spinoffs, the production of derivative products or use in other commercial advertisements, Chen noted.

Source: China Daily