（By Observer Net, Chen Jishen, Editor/Zhang Guangkai）
Recently, a short drama titled "Trump Falls in Love with the White House Cleaner" has gone viral on overseas short video platforms, earning 150 million USD within three months. After verification by Observer Net, this rumor and its sister article "After Divorcing Trump, I Got Half of America" are both false information, and there is no such short drama.
However, although the US president did not fall in love with a cleaner, on the short video platform Reel Short, there are many eye-catching hit contents such as "Never Divorce a Secret Billionaire Heiress", "Double Life of My Billionaire Husband", and "Your Bride is a Hunter, My Vampire Lord". Behind these hit short dramas, Reel Short and its parent company Chinese Online Literature are embroiled in a copyright infringement controversy.
On July 25, the leading short drama production brand Dianzhong Technology and Tinghuadao released a statement, accusing ReelShort of systematically copying their original content. After unsuccessful communication, they were forced to publicly protect their rights and stated that they would hold accountable.
The head of ReelShort responded on WeChat Moments with "Learn to compete in multiple dimensions," which industry insiders consider a passive response, neither admitting to plagiarism nor making thorough corrections.
A short drama practitioner told Observer Net that ReelShort has taken plagiarism as a strategy, which has made the industry unbearable, leading to this collective voice.
As of the time of writing, the operator of ReelShort, Maple Interactive, and its parent company Chinese Online Literature have not responded.
How do fake news deceive domestic media?
Although the plot of "the empress giving birth to 99 children" or "a tyrannical boss falling in love with a cleaner" is not uncommon in the short drama industry, directly naming Trump falling in love with a cleaner exceeds most people's imagination, and many would immediately find it fake. Then why did so many media outlets fall for it?
After checking, the rumor of "Trump Falling in Love with Me, Who Works as a Cleaner in the White House" first appeared in a report by Singapore media on July 23, stating that "this drama earned 150 million USD (about 191 million SGD) in three months."
Subsequently, the report was widely reprinted by domestic media and self-media, and various extension fake news emerged, such as "After Divorcing Trump, I Got Half of America," while the photos of Trump and the cleaner in the news were either AI images or screenshots from a 2017 American variety show, not actual scene shots.
Part of the photos of Trump falling in love with a cleaner were from a 2017 talk show
But such an absurd theme is really just a media mistake? Chen Ruiqing, CEO of Dianzhong KuaiKan Technology, a Chinese short drama brand, refuted the rumor on WeChat Moments, and emphasized: "Currently, the most exaggerated companies themselves dare not openly claim what they do, and no one takes responsibility, it's just to let people imagine who will benefit."
It is worth noting that the above report by the Singapore media mentioned "ReelShort, which is a leading short video application abroad."
ReelShort is a short video out-of-China platform, developed by Maple Studio (Maple Interactive), a subsidiary of Chinese company Chinese Online Literature, focusing on the European and American markets. The platform became a pioneer in short video out-of-China as early as August 2022, and repeatedly topped the US entertainment free chart, with monthly turnover once exceeding 10 million USD, becoming a representative product of North American short videos. It frequently topped the download charts on the US iOS and Google Play entertainment rankings.
The secret to ReelShort's success in the European and American platforms lies in the fact that when other competitors were still translating Chinese short videos, it was the first to implement localized remakes.
Short videos on ReelShort often take well-proven Chinese blockbuster models like "tyrannical bosses" and "palace intrigues" and wrap them in strong dramatic genres like vampires and werewolves, achieving cultural adaptation through local screenwriters, actors, and filming, resulting in great success.
The 2024 Short Video Out-of-China Industry Report shows that about 90% of the short videos on out-of-China short video apps are domestic translated works, while locally produced short videos account for only 10%. However, the hit short videos are basically concentrated in local productions, with 10% of local short videos contributing 75%-83% of in-app purchase revenue.
However, behind the success, ReelShort faces continuous potential copyright and infringement complaints.
Color Palette Plagiarism
On July 25, Beijing Dianzhong KuaiKan Technology Co., Ltd. issued a statement, stating that ReelShort published multiple unauthorized copies of Dianzhong's works "basically identical" to its works, including "After Leaving, Two BFFs Went Crazy" being copied as "Don't miss me when I'm gone" (with over 70 million plays on the platform). In addition, popular short videos such as "The Queen" and "Respect the Elderly and Love the Young" were also plagiarized.
Subsequently, the short drama brand Tinghuadao also issued a statement, stating that the work "The Seamstress Is The Duchess" on the ReelShort platform was a plagiarism of Tinghuadao's copyrighted short drama "The Vegetable Seller is Actually the Imperial Concubine," with multiple core plots completely replicated. Classic net literature "feel-good" plot points such as "saving the crown prince and obtaining the token" and "the emperor mistaken for a beggar" exist in similar ways; another work "Mated to My Brother-in-Law Alpha" plagiarized "Cold-Hearted Uncle Spoils His Sister-in-Law."
According to reports, recently, in a group chat of top executives of several leading short drama companies, a leader of a top short drama brand came forward to report ReelShort's plagiarism issues to Xie Guangcai, the Executive Vice President of Chinese Online Literature, and mentioned that the company has long been constantly stealing high-quality short dramas from domestic peers, directly putting them on the App platform for testing. If the effect is good, they then remake and plagiarize.
The person in charge pointed out that Reelshort has no domestic content, but instead moves the labor results of domestic peers to foreign countries for profit, maintaining its position as the industry leader in this way. He also mentioned that most of the leading domestic short drama companies have been plagiarized, and related enterprises include Maita, Jiuzhou, etc.
Tinghuadao's relevant personnel told Observer Net: "We discovered the plagiarism of ReelShort because our internal team monitors pirated short videos across the network. Tinghuadao has been contacting the other party via work email regarding this matter, but the other party has not actively communicated any solutions."
Tinghuadao pointed out: "In June, Maple Interactive and its affiliated parties shot, produced, and uploaded the micro-short drama 'The Seamstress Is The Duchess' to the ReelShort platform without our company's permission. The character settings, character relationships, classic plots, and narrative structure of the short drama are highly similar to our rights work 'The Vegetable Seller is Actually the Imperial Concubine'. After professional legal assessment, 'The Seamstress Is The Duchess' constitutes infringement against 'The Vegetable Seller is Actually the Imperial Concubine'."
This kind of imitation is called "color palette" plagiarism, meaning that it is copied frame by frame.
The chairman of Dianzhong Technology said: "The first short video out-of-China platform should build a positive image, rather than letting foreigners think that 'the first short video company in China = the first plagiarism company', this is not cultural export, but a scandal export."
On April 18, 2025, the China Copyright Association announced the establishment of the Micro-Short Video Work Committee Rights Protection Center. The China Copyright Association also specifically mentioned that the micro-short video industry is facing a piracy dilemma, and related problems such as plagiarism, unauthorized distribution, sale of pirated products, and repeated infringement are increasingly prominent. The center will actively carry out micro-short video copyright protection and rights protection work for member units, follow up on copyright infringement handling situations, and regularly summarize and report to relevant administrative and judicial authorities for further processing.
Notably, the parent company of the company involved in the copyright infringement controversy, Chinese Online Literature, is also one of the first batch of initiators of the China Copyright Association's Micro-Short Video Committee.
Challenges in Short Drama Rights Protection
A short drama practitioner gave Observer Net a calculation, saying that the more severe the plagiarism, the faster the profit.
"Plagiarism means that the original manufacturer bears the trial cost. Even if a copyright dispute arises, the money is already made, and it can be simply removed." He explained, that the cost of producing a short drama domestically has now risen to at least 500,000 yuan, some even exceeding millions. However, "color palette" plagiarism saves the script and promotion trial costs, requiring only the most basic actor and filming costs. Through precise traffic flow, it can quickly earn profits, and the cost of a short drama can be directly compressed to below 200,000 yuan. Moreover, since the plagiarism is of verified blockbusters, the probability of becoming a hit is much higher than that of regular short dramas. Low cost and high probability is the easiest way to make money.
Chinese Online Literature's financial report shows that its subsidiary company Maple Interactive (the operator of Reel Short) had a revenue growth of 324% in 2024, reaching 2.9 billion yuan.
For short drama rights protection, there are still legal blind spots.
A platform person told Observer Net that the current standard for copyright definition in the domestic short drama industry is vague - whether elements such as scripts, storyboards, and music constitute "substantial similarity" has no detailed judicial interpretation, leading to a low success rate of rights protection. "Storyboard plagiarism, direct copying of dialogue, use of costumes, or even direct "moving" of plot lines, rights holders often give up due to incomplete copyright registration or long litigation periods and complex evidence collection."
It is worth noting that even in the relatively mature long drama field, there are high costs for rights protection, long litigation times, and difficult to cover losses with rights protection benefits.
On June 5, 2025, the Jiangsu Higher People's Court made a final judgment, ruling that a short video company should stop the infringement and compensate IQIYU 30 million yuan.
IQIYU is the producer of "The Gangster," which was popular in January 2023. During the broadcast period, a large number of "Gangster" content clips, live broadcasts, and replays appeared on a short video platform, with cumulative play counts exceeding 11.6 billion times. Regarding whether these contents involve piracy and infringe on IQIYU's rights, both sides conducted a legal battle for nearly two and a half years before finally concluding.
Considering that this case was only about domestic piracy of original content, the legal process took over two years. In the short drama field, the identification of "color palette" plagiarism and the time and financial costs of overseas rights protection are likely to far exceed traditional piracy cases.
Shen Honggang, Secretary-General of the Legal Affairs Working Committee of the China Television Drama Production Industry Association, stated that currently, cross-border rights protection for short drama infringement is generally governed by the jurisdiction of the place where the infringement occurred. If the infringing behavior occurs in the United States and the content is also published on a U.S. platform, it is generally necessary to file a rights protection lawsuit in the United States where the infringement occurred, which objectively brings high litigation costs and a long time cycle for the rights holder. In most U.S. states, preliminary injunctions and other rapid procedures require several weeks to several months. The litigation cycle for regular cases, from filing to final judgment, usually takes 2-4 years, with an average of 3 years for ordinary cases. If it involves multi-country evidence, technical appraisals, and other complex issues, it may take more than 4 years.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7535033155888202278/
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