The Rebirth of the Internet Celebrity Godfather

December 27th is far from an important day. Christmas has just passed and New Year’s Day has not yet arrived.

It's just one of those ordinary Tuesdays.

But on this ordinary day, there was a storm on the Chinese Internet.

In the beginning, it was just a pebble thrown on the lake. The person who dropped the pebble was a food blogger named Li Ziqi.

There is almost no sound when stones hit the lake, and the ripples they create are so small that few people notice.

Until a well-known Internet celebrity named Cheng Yi dropped an even bigger stone.

Then, Huaxia Boy, Lao Tomato, Hua Shaobei, Mou Huanjun, Zhou Hengfeng, Half a Sugar, and Maotou Loli quickly followed.

Then there was the married woman at station x, which made Zhang Yiming faint!

Then there are countless short video practitioners, big and small!

In later generations, countless people will look back on this day and call it the first day of the legal consciousness awakening in the short video industry, the first day of standardization and formalization, and the first battle for short video practitioners to safeguard their rights.

…

Back at nine o'clock in the morning, Cheng Yi reviewed the rights protection video and found that there were no problems, so he sent it to Li Ziqi.

Li Ziqi uploaded this rights protection video on platforms such as Meipai, Weibo, X.com, and Douyun.

The title of the video is very headline-grabbing:

I was threatened that if I didn't sign a contract and cooperate, he would destroy me.

"Hello everyone, my name is Li Ziqi.

Five days ago, I was told that if I didn't sign with his company, he would sue me and stop me from using the name Li Ziqi. This is the recording of the phone call at that time.

…

'Ha! Zi Qi, you can't be like this. I didn't want to get into trouble with you, but you don't know how to flatter me. Do you think I will help you for free? Go check Li Zi Qi's trademarks, they are all mine.

In your name!

I tell you, either work together, build a big brand together, and share the money. Or, you sign a contract with someone else, but don’t use the name Li Ziqi, I can’t get you, I can destroy you!’

…

Let me introduce you first. My real name is Li Jiajia and my nickname is ‘Qi Wa’. After working in the short video industry, Li Ziqi was my online name.

On September 5th this year, the boss surnamed Liu suddenly contacted me and said that he liked my videos very much, but the views of my videos were very low, which was very regrettable.

The boss of the company can help me obtain the core promotion resources of IBO.

This is the chat record at that time. Let me show it to you. The chat record started on September 5th. Before September 5th, I had no contact with him.

I thought he was a liar and ignored him. Unexpectedly, he actually helped me get it. I was very grateful to him at the time.

Of course, I later learned that the core hospital he was talking about was nothing more than a program launched by Weibo this year to support content creators.

The boss surnamed Liu is an arbitrageur. He took illegal resources and lied that he had obtained them through gambling, so as to show favor to me.

I didn't see through his true colors at the time. From September 5th to December 20th, for three months, he kept using illegal gambling resources to sign me. For the purpose of maintaining the purity of my creation, I never did.

Promise him.

It wasn't until another company approached me for cooperation that they told me the truth and exposed the true identity of the boss named Liu.

I couldn't believe it at first, so I called the boss named Liu to ask for an explanation. He also admitted that the so-called illegal gambling resources were from the arbitrage platform.

The recording is as follows:

‘Liu Tongming, can you be any more shameless? Do you think I don’t know that now?!

You are just taking illegal resources and claiming to be the resources you have gambled and connected with! Now you are rake!'

'Haha, I didn't expect you to know everything. It seems that the new company told you. Okay, then I won't pretend anymore. You are right. I just used illegal gambling resources. How about it?

You creators are just stupid. You only focus on making videos, don’t pay attention to platform policies and activities, and don’t understand trademark laws. You deserve to be picked on. If the new company knows that your trademark is with me, will you still be valuable? So you have only one way,

Come back and cooperate with me obediently, and I can ignore the past grudges!'

At the same time, he also informed me that he had already registered the trademark Li Ziqi. This is the trademark information I found online. You can check the time. The registration date was August 29, which was earlier than the first time he contacted me.

Still early.

In other words, this matter was a complete conspiracy from the beginning.

From the moment I was targeted by him, I had no choice but to sign a contract with him or be forced to change my name.

I have gone through the formal legal process. This is my indictment. On the day the court notified the defendant, the boss named Liu, he called me. This is the phone recording:

'Li Ziqi, you bitch, you still dare to sue me, tell you, what happened to me just to register your trademark?! You can sue, I did it reasonably and legally! If you can win the lawsuit, I will bear your surname!'

My lawyer friend told me that even though I have used my online name for half a year, and even though he has obviously engaged in squatting, there is still little hope of filing a lawsuit to get the trademark back.

I believe that I am not an isolated case of this kind of incident. The short video industry has just emerged. Many short video content creators have no legal awareness in this area and have not registered trademarks. As a result, they have worked hard for two or three years and suddenly found themselves

account, my name has become someone else’s.

I hope to make my own case a case and tell other short video practitioners what to do if they encounter such a thing.

I am now actively collecting evidence and preparing to respond. Viewers who see this video, please do not harass the other company. Doing so will only cause more trouble for me. Internet violence is not advisable, and legal rights protection is the right way.

The purpose of posting this video is to hope that all short video practitioners will see this video, strengthen their awareness in this regard, and protect their legitimate rights and interests. However, if you encounter the same thing as me, don’t be afraid.

, the country already has relevant laws, we can legitimately defend our rights and regain our legitimate rights and interests.

…

I hope I am the last person to defend my online name. When everyone has this awareness of rights protection, will this industry never exist again?

Therefore, I implore all viewers to spread this video. I need everyone’s help and everyone to work together to solve this problem and kill it at the source.

After solving this problem for this company, and thousands of other companies, all I can do is post a video to call everyone's attention to this matter.

Finally, I would like to make an important statement: everyone must not harass each other, and do not use illegality to fight illegality.

That’s it for this video, see you if you have the chance!”

After this video was released, Cheng Yi also forwarded the video through his accounts on all platforms.

Cheng Yi: "@李子七 supports rights protection and thanks for speaking out. Only by bravely fighting against such unscrupulous companies can we ensure the healthy and orderly development of this industry."

Then, he asked Zhou Hengfeng, Zhang Hanran, and Maotou Loli to follow up and forward it.

Zhou Hengfeng: “Have some light, some enthusiasm, and support rights protection!”

Zhang Hanran: "I hope everyone will work together to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of short video creators! Come on, Li Ziqi! Justice will prevail!"

Cat Head Loli: "Don't be stressed, we are behind you!!!"

Cheng Yi also called Lao Tomato, Huaxia Boy and others. The four of them were very considerate and forwarded it one after another.

Zhang Yiming: "I am very grateful to someone in the industry who stood up and spoke out and made me realize that there are still such companies and such hidden dangers! I support you on behalf of myself and the company. If you need any help, please contact me!"

Married: "X station will resolutely safeguard and protect the legitimate rights and interests of practitioners and provide legal aid and support. Please rest assured and if you have any questions, please contact the organization."

When Cheng Yi saw these two items, he knew that the fire was completely on fire!