Chapter 688: Pulling the Firewood from Under the Pot

Now Panda Live faces two choices: either pay the licensing fee to Swan Castle and continue broadcasting, or stop broadcasting Swan Castle's game content.

This is the notice the Copyright Center issued to Panda Live, and also the reply to Swan Castle — games fall under copyright as well, as a form of creative content, and broadcasting without authorization constitutes infringement.

As for compensation, there is none — only an administrative penalty of just over a hundred thousand.

Naturally, this couldn't satisfy Swan Castle, so litigation is still necessary. Fang Hong's goal is a complete ban, plus compensation.

In response to the demand, Panda Live organized a team to negotiate licensing for three games with Swan Castle. They had no choice — without negotiating, they couldn't broadcast the other's content, which put Panda Live on the back foot.

The entire livestreaming industry is watching this negotiation, because it will shape the future landscape of the sector.

But Swan Castle didn't take this negotiation seriously. Fang Hong didn't show up, and even Liang Rubo didn't show up — it was entirely left to subordinates.

Because it simply couldn't be resolved — it couldn't meet Fang Hong's expectations. A penalty of just that little bit of money is useless, and the other side won't let it go that easily either.

As guessed correctly, the person Panda Live brought was Chief Operating Officer Zhang Juyuan, hoping to settle things by paying a licensing fee.

Swan Castle went along with the other side and demanded an annual licensing fee of 1 billion, plus an additional 200 million per year per game for tournament broadcasting rights.

Two games would be 400 million, three games would be 600 million.

And with permission to broadcast plus tournament broadcasting rights, Panda would have to pay Swan Castle 1.6 billion a year — no different from robbery.

Panda Live simply couldn't come up with that much money — even working themselves to the bone for Swan Castle they couldn't. With the two sides at war, their fundraising became difficult too, so screw paying.

This move threw everyone into a panic; streamers big and small were all watching how things developed.

Xiao Wang was furious when he heard the news and waved his hand dramatically: "No more negotiating. Negotiate my ass — they never intended to talk seriously. Keep broadcasting. Worst case, we just pay the fine."

This was a head-on collision — go ahead and complain, come investigate if you want, and we'll cooperate and pay the fine.

If you don't come investigate, we keep broadcasting as usual. Either way, we'll broadcast Swan Castle's games — not a single cent for you.

Playing by the rules is something only ordinary people do. Before the law draws a clear line, hardly anyone actually follows the rules.

Panda Live also had its reasons — willing to cooperate, sure, but Swan Castle was asking an outrageous sum. Who could afford that?

And derivative game content copyright should be shared to begin with — a licensing fee is fine, but it can't be absurd.

This meant both sides were dissatisfied with the Copyright Center's ruling, so they could only escalate — administrative review, which would take far too long.

Fortunately, Chang'e had already entered the litigation process. Copyright matters are a real hassle — any delay drags on for a year or two.

In his previous life, Panda Live dragged on for a year or two before going under, but the situation now was different. Fang Hong wasn't taking it step by step — he planned to seal the other side off directly.

Although Xiao Wang was playing the rogue, he was under pressure too. When forced enforcement actually came, he wouldn't be having fun anymore.

Panda Live ignored the Copyright Bureau's mediation, and without authorization, major streamers were still broadcasting Swan Castle's games.

Swan Castle wasn't idle either — they sent lawyer's letters to every streamer broadcasting their games.

This terrified streamers big, medium, and small. They didn't have Xiao Wang's resources to tough it out — hiring a lawyer was already a struggle, let alone fighting a case.

And those big-name streamers were also shrouded in gloom!

Among them, pdd received a lawyer's letter. The content was simple: if he kept broadcasting, he'd face a lawsuit and compensation.

"Hey hey, did you guys all get lawyer's letters? From Swan Castle?" pdd asked his streamer friends.

"Got mine. I don't dare broadcast anymore," Thomas said.

"What did General Manager Wang say?" Milan asked.

"General Manager Wang told us to keep broadcasting as usual, not to worry about it, he'd handle it. But I feel like that's bullshit — if the Principal really sues us, General Manager Wang can't do jack!" pdd was deeply worried.

He was a top streamer on Panda, bringing in massive traffic, and all he streamed was Swan Castle's games. With things like this, his livelihood was gone.

"I want to go stream on Douyin, I'm scared!" a mid-tier streamer said.

"You can leave, but we can't — we're all under contract," Milan said.

These top streamers all had contracts with the platform — paid a set amount to stream, just like an agency agreement.

Everyone here was silent, each with their own thoughts. Some had already started thinking about jumping to other platforms.

Here, they might lose their livelihoods entirely.

Although Douyin offered no base pay, no salary, and depended entirely on one's own effort, the traffic was huge, and their games could be streamed freely with no risk.

"Hey Da Sima, did you guys get lawyer's letters?" pdd asked.

"Nope, our platform is broadcasting as usual, no restrictions or notices — maybe it's only targeting you guys." Da Sima was on Douyu.

In other words, anyone could broadcast — just not on Panda.

This made even more streamers think about switching platforms.

This was Fang Hong pulling the rug out from under them. The court date was far off, so first he'd drain all of Panda Live's small and mid-tier streamers away.

But the big streamers were hard to move — they were bound by contracts. Still, it made them miserable, unsure whether to broadcast or not, caught in a dilemma.

This caused many streamers on Panda to stop broadcasting. Of course, some weren't afraid and broadcast under pressure — after all, Xiao Wang said he'd take the heat.

Of course, those who switched platforms did so, especially small and mid-tier streamers who had no such concerns — their contracts were just revenue-share deals with very little binding force.

This move pulled the rug out from under Panda's small and mid-tier streamers, who saw no future. Roughly a thousand streamers gradually fled, with an exodus rate of 20%, causing massive traffic loss and content shortage for Panda Live.

And these streamers were gobbled up by other platforms — Douyin ate the most.

Who would've thought that the fight between the two sides would let them benefit? Except the benefit wasn't all that tasty — if the Principal pulled the same trick on them, they wouldn't feel good either.

So although they were feasting, they weren't exactly grateful.

Panda Live was hit hard by this — those streamers took their audiences with them, killing content creation.

On top of that, everyone was scared, throwing the whole place into panic!

Xiao Wang felt unprecedented pressure and posted a complaint on Weibo: "Swan Castle, under the guise of protecting intellectual property, is controlling derivative game content — this is an abuse of market dominance, copyright monopoly, and it will kill small and mid-tier platforms!"

This was a direct accusation that Swan Castle was playing monopoly!

This move didn't win support from any livestreaming platform. After all, it wasn't hitting them, and they weren't being hit — why would they wade into muddy waters?

Besides, they were still enjoying the benefits leaking out of Panda!

Of course, there was some support — just from small livestreaming platforms that didn't want to pay any licensing fees. If this kind of thing really took hold, they'd be the first to suffer.

And Swan Castle was opening with demands of over a billion — who could afford that? It gave off a "the rabbit dies, the fox grieves" vibe.

In short, this round Fang Hong has been pressing Xiao Wang down, and Douyu has a sense of crisis, so they asked their father Tencent whether they should take Xiao Wang's side.

If the Principal really pulls it off, later those people will come demanding over a billion from us too, and then they'll be squeezed as well.

Tencent General Manager Liu Zhiping said: "Let's wait and see!"

It's still unclear what the Principal's attitude is toward the other live-streaming platforms—whether he's only retaliating against Panda Live, or planning to clean them up too.

If he cleans them up together, then it's no longer just Xiao Wang's problem, but a full-blown copyright war—you won't let me use it, and I won't let you use it either.

Each side will raise high walls to keep the other from taking their stuff; some are already doing this, and there are signs of it.

In any case, Bilibili has always been getting sued for all kinds of reasons, just because the platform always provides commentary on all sorts of films and TV shows, and also reposts content from other platforms.

And although this content is created by individual creators, it's still on a platform like Bilibili.

Right now all the major live-streaming platforms are staying silent, watching the competition between the two sides, and behind these big live-streaming platforms is capital, because they have content too, and games too.

And small live-streaming platforms fighting back is meaningless.

"A bunch of idiots. If the Principal dares to treat me like this, he'll dare to treat you the same way." Xiao Wang was furious, feeling a kind of isolation in this industry.

He deeply felt the helplessness of the Huayi Big and Little Wangs—even with Alibaba's help they collapsed, and he doesn't even have anyone to help him, not even the strength to fight back.

The Huayi Big and Little Wangs did manage to fight back a few times.

Let's put it this way—if the copyright boundaries weren't so vague and the court cycles weren't so long, Panda Live would already be dead by now.

And at this moment the Huayi Big and Little Wangs were laughing at him. Back when they were being taken down by the Principal, this kid was still acting all high and mighty, cursing them as idiots in the circle—they knew all of it, people had told them.

"Hahaha, let the Principal clean this thing up properly. What does he think he is, acting all tough." Wang Zhongjun laughed heartily, without a trace of the displeasure from being taken down by the Principal.

Seeing Xiao Wang unhappy made him happy.

"Don't laugh at him either, we're still locked in a death struggle with Warner, and the Principal still hasn't helped us get our money." Wang Zhonglei said.

They had previously asked the Principal to help them get their money, and it's been almost half a year now, and the Principal hasn't even shown a shadow.

And they can only rely on their own strength to wrestle with Warner, just dragging each other back and forth; the court hearing hasn't even opened yet, the cycle is really long.

"I know, it's just seeing him suffer that makes me happy. We've been under a cloud for so long, it's rare to get to watch a good show." Wang Zhongjun said.

Just as the whole circle was watching this rich second-generation's show, Xiao Wang had lost all face—he could certainly hear some gossip calling him useless.

With no choice, he could only call his parents for help!

Lao Wang Zong also sighed that the Principal's methods were getting more and more seasoned—first blow up the rumors, tell everyone they're fighting each other, it's none of your business.

Then drive his son's live-streaming content into a dead end, and add a report to pull the rug out from under him.

The report makes Panda the party at fault, so from the start it doesn't hold the moral high ground—a full-scale strike from both the moral and economic angles.

Doing it this way, his son's financing will be tough!

If he can't raise funds, then Panda Live simply can't keep going—such a big operation, winding it down won't be easy either.

In April, Beijing showed signs of warming up; after the ice and snow melted, it was a scene of vibrant life, with everything bursting forth.

The weather was clear that day, and Fang Hong was supporting Liu Tianxian as they strolled on the green lawn.

Liu Tianxian was wearing jeans on her lower body and a loose shirt-dress on top, with a round, bulging belly, waddling as she walked, not very smoothly!

"Ugh, I used to walk briskly as a fly, now I take two steps and I'm exhausted. It's all your fault—you made me like this." She braced her waist, feeling very sore.

"Okay, my fault, my fault. Then let me help you over there to sit for a while." Fang Hong put his arm around her thick waist, helping her toward a pavilion, not arguing with her—pregnant women's emotions are unstable to begin with.

Now Liu Tianxian no longer walked with her old carefree skipping; she could only waddle slowly.

This was the back garden of their Villa, very well landscaped, and stepping on the ground felt like stepping on a soft carpet.

And all around were modest plantings, quite ornamental, and the air was pleasant—perfect for a stroll here.

(End of chapter)