Chapter 828 You are my role model
When talking about business, Lin Weimin didn't say anything, but handed a file bag to Zheng Yuanjie.
After Zheng Yuanjie opened it and took a look, his face suddenly changed and he looked at Lin Weimin with some anger.
"Teacher Lin, I have great respect for the Chinese Literature Society and you. What do you mean by this?"
He took out a document from the file bag, held it up and questioned Lin Weimin.
Lin Weimin took a sip of coffee leisurely, looking calm, and then said, "Don't get excited yet."
Zheng Yuanjie looked at Lin Weimin and realized that he had lost his composure, but when he looked at the document again, he couldn't help but feel angry.
The document that Lin Weimin handed over to Zheng Yuanjie was none other than the registered trademark of the fairy tale character "Shuke" that he created.
"Shuke" is a character in "The Adventures of Shuke and Beta", a novel created by Zheng Yuanjie in 1987. It has been nearly ten years since then and it is very well-known in the field of children's literature in China.
Zheng Yuanjie is a writer who attaches great importance to his own rights. In the mid-1980s, when he discovered that pirated books of his works were circulating in the market, he actively participated in the campaign to crack down on pirated books.
After 2000, Zheng Yuanjie discovered that the trademarks of many classic fairy tale characters he created had been registered by many companies. He then embarked on a 20-year long and arduous journey to defend his rights, most of which ended in failure.
It is indeed not easy to safeguard one's legitimate rights and interests in China, and the cost is very high.
At this time, Zheng Yuanjie had not yet realized the importance of trademarks, but years of anti-piracy experience had trained his legal awareness, which hit a blind spot that he had always ignored. That's why Zheng Yuanjie reacted so intensely after seeing this trademark document.
"What do you think after seeing this document?" Lin Weimin asked casually.
Zheng Yuanjie still had some anger on his face, "This is a bit too much."
Lin Weimin didn't care about his blunt tone and said, "I just had this trademark registered. It was effortless. You should know what this means, right?"
Sensing the kindness in Lin Weimin's tone, Zheng Yuanjie's anger dissipated a little. He looked at the documents in his hand and nodded heavily.
"I haven't thought of this before. If this is really the case, there will be a lawsuit in the future."
Lin Weimin listened to Zheng Yuanjie's words, but shook his head slightly. He did not realize the seriousness of the matter.
“The trademark document you are looking at now is not used for literature-related products, but for a rat poison product. It successfully circumvents the protection of intellectual property rights under trademark and copyright laws.
In other words, if you sue us now, there is a 90% chance that the court will not support your claim. "
Hearing this, Zheng Yuanjie's face suddenly turned ugly.
Lin Weimin continued, "Look behind."
Zheng Yuanjie turned the page as he said and saw another trademark document.
"This is the 'Pipilulu' livestock artificial insemination trademark that a company in Fuzhou applied to register. If you don't believe it, you can try to sue them and see if you can win."
Pippi Lu is a classic character in another fairy tale work by Zheng Yuanjie. Its influence is no less than that of "Shuke". Moreover, the characters of this name are awkward. It is possible that it was registered unintentionally or was a coincidence of names, but the probability is too low. It can be basically confirmed that the company registered it with malicious intent.
Zheng Yuanjie understood Lin Weimin's purpose, and asked, "Do you have any good ideas?"
Lin Weimin smiled and said it was actually very simple. "Just spend a lot of money and register the trademarks of all the classic characters in your works."
Hearing this "stupid method", Zheng Yuanjie was speechless. He wanted to refute it, but after thinking for a long time, he found that this was probably the safest and easiest way.
He was silent for a long time and then asked, "It takes a lot of effort to do this."
"Indeed. It's time-consuming, laborious, and costly, but effective. If you're willing, our Chinese Literature Society is willing to do it for you."
Lin Weimin is demonstrating the strengths and sincerity of Guowen Society, and the benefits of having a big tree to lean on.
Zheng Yuanjie no longer had the decisiveness he had when he rejected Li Xin. He hesitated for a long time and asked, "What can you give me?"
"fair!"
Lin Weimin only uttered these two words, but Zheng Yuanjie's pupils suddenly shrank.
"I would like to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with you on behalf of Guowen Press. From now on, Guowen Press will be responsible for the publication of all your published and future works, and the remuneration will be calculated based on royalties. You should be aware of the influence of our Guowen Press in the field of literature. If your works are published by us, the sales will definitely be much higher than it is now.
You should also be aware of how our Guowen Publishing House treats writers. It will only be better than what you are enjoying now.
In addition, the various copyrights of your works will also be handled by Guowen Press. We will put the copyright development of your works in the first place, including comics, animation, movies, television, toys... All copyright developments will give you a minimum guarantee contract. If the share of the income exceeds the minimum guarantee, then it will be executed according to the share.
Moreover, we will first ask for your consent before we proceed with these copyright developments. If you do not agree, we will not easily proceed with copyright developments and will respect your rights as the original creator to the greatest extent.
The most important thing is that, whether in copyright protection or not, our Chinese society will do its utmost to safeguard your legitimate rights and interests. After all, safeguarding your rights and interests is safeguarding our own rights and interests. "
Having said that, Lin Weimin took a sip of coffee slowly.
With the trademark's head start, Zheng Yuanjie's mind has been shaken. Although Lin Weimin did not list all the specific conditions, just the vague conditions he just mentioned were enough to show his sincerity.
Lin Weimin mentioned the treatment of writers by Guowen Publishing House. In this regard, Guowen Publishing House is indeed well-known in the domestic literary circles.
Zheng Yuanjie is sure that there is no other publishing house in the country that treats writers so well.
He struggled internally for a moment and asked, "My works are all serialized in the Fairy Tale King."
"We will invest in the acquisition of Fairy Tale King, and the price must be in line with the brand value of Fairy Tale King. But if Shanxi insists on not agreeing, I hope you can stand on our side."
Lin Weimin made it clear in advance that this was not the first time that Guowen Publishing House had purchased publications.
A few years ago, Guowen Publishing House spent 1 million to buy all the intellectual property rights of the discontinued "The King of Painting Books" from Ningxia People's Publishing House. It was ridiculed by many people at the time and became known to everyone in the domestic cultural circle.
Today, those who mocked the Guowen Publishing House have already shut up amid the rapid development of the new "Painting King".
With the previous successful case of "The King of Painting", Lin Weimin's words were fully convincing. Zheng Yuanjie opened his lips slightly and wanted to say something, but found that Lin Weimin had already prepared what he wanted to say, and he could hardly find any reason to refuse.
Zheng Yuanjie remained silent. Since he founded "Fairy Tale King" in 1985, he has always been working alone. Now he is suddenly going to be recruited by someone else. He has an instinctive resistance in his heart.
Lin Weimin easily saw through his inner thoughts and said, "Cooperating with us will not restrict you in any way. On the contrary, you will have greater freedom than before, because the National Literature Society will do all your mundane work on your behalf with your consent. What we value is the copyright development value of your works. I think you should also understand that it is difficult to truly develop the value of these works by yourself."
In later years, Zheng Yuanjie spent 20 years building up his own brand value, which laid the foundation for his son Zheng Yaqi to successfully start a company to manage the copyright of his works after 2004.
Now, Zheng Yuanjie is still working alone and has not realized the true value of copyright.
"You should know this little girl Yuxiu. She wrote a book called 'Flower Season and Rainy Season'. Her income from this book alone is probably more than your combined income from writing over the years."
Lin Weimin said this lightly, and Zheng Yuanjie's brows moved unconsciously.
The novel "Season of Flowers and Rain" was extremely popular, and the radio series, comics, and TV series adaptations were also extremely popular. Zheng Yuanjie naturally knew this novel.
Zheng Yuanjie also heard about the huge income Yuxiu earned from this.
But hearing this news from Lin Weimin still shocked him.
Zheng Yuanjie has been writing for 18 years since he published his first article in 1978. In the first seven years, his income was not much higher than that of the average working class.
The standard remuneration is 2 yuan per thousand words, so he only makes 200 yuan even if he writes 100,000 words a month.
The situation did not improve until he founded "The Fairy Tale King" in 1985. As the sales of "The Fairy Tale King" continued to rise, his income increased day by day.
After entering the 1990s, his works easily sold millions of copies each year, which led to his annual income of one million.
With the operation of Guowen Publishing House, Yuxiu's "Flower Season and Rainy Season" brought her, the author, nearly 10 million yuan in income.
Not to mention more than him, even if it was equal to his income over the years, it would be hard for Zheng Yuanjie to accept.
One book, just one book, is worth nearly twenty years of Zheng Yuanjie's efforts.
Once an obsession arises in a person's mind, it cannot be easily eliminated.
Previously, when Li Xin came to negotiate with Zheng Yuanjie, he talked about money right away and even used Yuxiu as an example, but it had little effect. The most crucial problem was that he did not shake Zheng Yuanjie's ideas.
In Zheng Yuanjie's eyes, he can live a comfortable life by working alone, and there is no need to discuss cooperation with others.
As soon as Lin Weimin took over, he used the trademark to shake his confidence in going it alone, making him understand that his personal ability alone could not completely solve the troubles he might encounter, and also made him see the benefits of leaning on a big tree.
Therefore, when talking about the practical issue of income next time, Zheng Yuanjie will no longer be as calm as before.
"If I cooperate with Guowen Publishing House, can my income also reach Yuxiu's level?" Zheng Yuanjie asked a question.
Lin Weimin chuckled. "You think too little of yourself. Yuxiu only has one novel, and she has almost finished developing the copyright. Her income will only decrease in the future. But you are different. In the Chinese literary world, there are very few writers like you who keep writing. The number of your works and your popularity determine that your income ceiling will be much higher than Yuxiu's."
When he said this, his expression became serious. He looked into Zheng Yuanjie's eyes and said solemnly: "I hope to train you to become the first billionaire in the Chinese literary world."
Zheng Yuanjie's face was somewhat moved, but then for some reason, his expression became a little strange.
Lin Weimin reacted at this time and added: "Except me."
Hearing this, Zheng Yuanjie couldn't help laughing, and Lin Weimin also showed a smile on his face.
In the Chinese literary world, no other writer can be as successful as Lin Weimin, who has ensured that his works are bestsellers while achieving success in both awards and copyright adaptations.
"You are my role model!" said Zheng Yuanjie.
(End of this chapter)
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