On September 19, the widely followed “Jin Yong v. Jiang Nan” case was fully settled by the parties through multiple mediations by the Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court. This concludes a nine-year copyright dispute, known as the “first case involving fan fiction,” which had significant impact on the publishing industry and literary creation circles.
The case originated from Jiang Nan’s early campus novel “The Youth of This Moment.” The work extensively used elements such as character names, relationships, and personality traits from Jin Yong’s classic martial arts novels, including “The Legend of the Condor Heroes,” featuring characters like Guo Jing, Huang Rong, Linghu Chong, and Qiao Feng. An early version published by an external publisher even used the subtitle “The College Years of the Condor Heroes.” Jin Yong filed a lawsuit in July 2016 with the Tianhe District People’s Court in Guangzhou, alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition, requesting the cessation of infringement, a public apology, elimination of negative effects, and compensation for economic losses.
Due to fundamental disagreements on key issues such as legal characterization, liability, and the amount of compensation, both parties appealed the first-instance judgment to the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court. After the second-instance judgment, the dispute remained unresolved, and both parties subsequently applied for a retrial with the Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court.
During the retrial review, the court focused not just on technical legal provisions but on thoroughly resolving the conflict. The collegiate panel organized multiple consultations, patiently explaining the law and reasoning around contentious points like “the legal boundaries of fan fiction creation,” “standards for determining infringement of various rights under copyright,” “specific methods for ceasing infringement,” and “how to eliminate negative effects,” gradually guiding the parties toward a consensus.
Ultimately, under the court’s guidance, a comprehensive settlement agreement was reached. The main points include: the parties agreed not to characterize the disputed actions as “plagiarism”; Jiang Nan acknowledged that his creation, done without prior knowledge of copyright law and without obtaining adaptation permission from Jin Yong, caused harm to Jin Yong; Jiang Nan agreed not to reprint “The Youth of This Moment” in its original form and, if reprinted in the future, to cease using the unique character names and related content from Jin Yong’s works; the subtitle “The College Years of the Condor Heroes” used in the 2002 edition published by an external publisher constituted unfair competition; the compensation amount determined by the second-instance judgment has been fulfilled by Jiang Nan, and the parties will not seek further changes; after signing the mediation document, the original first and second-instance judgments will no longer have legal effect.
“Due to the long-standing ambiguity surrounding the legal nature of fan fiction creation, this case sparked intense discussion in legal, cultural industry, and online communities from the very beginning. The successful mediation not only properly addressed the highly contentious issue of the boundary between literary creation and copyright infringement but also demonstrated the judiciary’s wisdom in balancing the protection of original works, encouragement of innovation, and maintenance of a healthy creative ecosystem. It provides a model for the proper resolution of similar disputes within the legal framework.”
[Judge’s Explanation]
Presiding Judge of the Case
Question: The “Jin Yong v. Jiang Nan” case, known as the “first fan fiction case,” was settled through mediation under your court’s guidance. According to the concluded case information released by your court, the parties confirmed in the mediation agreement that Jiang Nan’s creation of “The Youth of This Moment” would not be characterized as “plagiarism,” but Jiang Nan acknowledged that his creation, done without prior copyright law knowledge and without obtaining adaptation permission from Mr. Jin Yong, caused harm to Mr. Jin Yong. Does this case indicate to the public that ‘fan fiction’ infringes upon the copyright of the original work?
Answer: The content of the mediation agreement in this case was determined through repeated communication and negotiation by the parties involved, reflecting their disposition of civil rights and is legally binding only on the parties in this case. Whether ‘fan fiction’ constitutes infringement must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis; it cannot be generalized. Fan fiction creation takes various forms, and from a legal perspective, the relationship between fan fiction and the original work can vary. According to Article 3 of the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China, works protected by copyright law are intellectual achievements with originality that can be expressed in a certain form in the fields of literature, art, and science. Copyright protection follows the “idea-expression dichotomy” principle, protecting specific expressions but not abstract ideas. The assessment of “originality” should first be confined to the realm of specific expression. To determine whether fan fiction infringes the copyright of the original work, one must first analyze whether the “similarity” lies in
