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A well-known Chinese actor named Ge You recently made headlines after winning more than 500 legal battles and obtaining 8 million yuan in settlements for the improper use of his character, Ji Chunsheng, in online advertisements.Ji Chunsheng is a fictional character from the 1993 television debut of the well-known Chinese sitcom I Love My Family. The portrayal of the character as a slack deadbeat who spends the day lounging on a sofa has now gone viral on the internet. The “tang ping” culture, which denotes a lethargic attitude towards career and ambition, was created in China as a result of the meme. The culture has grown in popularity among young people as a result of the pressures of life and the workplace.The lawsuits filed against companies that used Ge’s character without his consent were reported to be in the hundreds, with Ge winning 542 out of 544 cases. The companies that infringed Ge’s rights include an excavator company, an automobile company, and a traditional Chinese massage shop. These companies used Ge’s meme to promote their products or services, such as promoting comfortable back seats where people can “lie flat” or advertising that their products can help people “make money while lying flat.”The losing businesses were forced to apologise to the actor and give him compensation that ranged from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan as a result of these cases.Online debates on the true meaning of “earning money while lying flat” have been sparked by Ge’s legal achievement. Asserting that “Big Daddy Ge shows you what is the true ‘Ge You-esque slouching’,” other online commenters applauded Ge for emphasising the value of respecting others’ rights. Others noted that Ge’s income from the infringing businesses was considerably less than what he would ordinarily demand for advertisement fees.
Ge, a star of several famous Chinese movies like To Live, The Dream Factory, and Let the Bullets Fly, was born in Beijing in 1957. He became well-known in China after taking home the Best Actor prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. His legal triumph has strengthened his reputation as a man who fights for his rights and serves as a warning to businesses about the need of respecting others’ intellectual property.Source: SCMP
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