Viet Nam News
HA NOI — The District 1 Court in HCM City has ruled that painter Le Phong Linh (pen name Le Linh) is to be the only author of popular comic series Than Dong Dat Viet (Vietnamese Land’s Prodigy).
The series features the history, culture and traditions of Viet Nam in the context of the Late Le (1442-1789) reign with various surreal details. The series has proved attractive to both children and adults.
Linh sued Phan Thi My Hanh, director of Phan Thi Company, for violating his copyright.
Between 2001 and 2006, Linh and Phan Thi Company co-operated to publish 78 episodes of Than Dong Dat Viet.
Then, the company exploited the characters in the series to create other series.
The characters have been featured in other series like Than Dong Dat Viet Toan Hoc featuring the characters in mathematic games (67 episodes so far); Than Dong Dat Viet Khoa Hoc featuring various simple scientific phenomena (157 episodes); Than Dong Dat Viet My Thuat for children who love fine arts; and Than Dong Dat Viet Hoang Sa - Truong Sa aiming to educate children about the Vietnamese sea and island sovereignty.
The company signed an agreement with Linh that saw him receive payment of more than VND3 billion (US$129,000) between May 2002 and February 2006 for his work on the series. The agreement did not give the company permission to use the characters Linh had created in other series.
For 78 episodes of Than Dong Dat Viet, Phan Thi Company recognised Linh’s work by listing him as the creator of the stories and paintings. On the last page of episode 37, Linh’s biography was also printed. But after those episodes, the painter stopped co-operating and decided to bring a suit against the company for violating his copyright.
Up to now, Than Dong Dat Viet has still been published by the company. According to statistics by the publishing authority, the series reached its 227th episode early this year.
The court said Linh was the person who had directly created the whole or a part of the series. In order to be recognised, the author should sign his name under the work.
The court recognised Linh’s copyright on four characters in the series: Trang Ti, Suu Eo, Dan Beo and Ca Meo. It also said Phan Thi Company director Hanh was not a co-author of the series.
The court agreed with Linh’s request to force Phan Thi Company to stop using the four characters in other publications.
According to the trial council, the company has the right to possess the four characters but has no right to transform them without Linh’s approval.
The court requested Phan Thi Company to apologise to Linh in Thanh Nien (Young People) and Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspapers in three successive issues.
The company will also be charged the VND15 million ($644) that Linh paid his lawyers.
The company said it would appeal the verdict.
In 2017, producer Ngo Thanh Van announced that she would buy the copyright to make a film based on the series. — VNS