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A big news these two days - Trump was shot.

For a time, related photos and videos went viral on the Internet.

Among them, a group of photos of Trump with his fist raised and blood flowing from his ear were quite artistic and were widely circulated.

It is understood that this group of photos was taken by Pulitzer Prize winner and Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci. For a time, Evan Vucci was watched and discussed by almost the whole world, and everyone knew that the classic photo was taken by him.

Evan Vucci also posted photos of Trump being attacked on his multiple social media platforms.

Today, Sanyan discovered something interesting: when several domestic media reported on the relevant content, the source of the relevant photos was marked as Visual China.

This makes people wonder, how did the copyright of the photo become the property of Visual China?

Visual China CFP has relevant photos

Social media use: RMB 2,100 per photo

Sanyan searched Visual China's website (vcg.com) but did not find any relevant photos.

So, Sanyan called Visual China, and the customer service said that such photos are relatively sensitive and are only open to cooperative customers on another website (CFP).

Afterwards, the customer service department arranged for a specialist to connect with Sanyan, and the specialist did find relevant photos of Trump on CFP.

So, did Visual China obtain authorization for this photo from Evan Wuqi? Or did Evan Wuqi provide it to Visual China?

Sanyan asked Visual China’s specialist about this matter.

The other party said: "The images displayed on the Visual China platform are all from legal sources. They are the company's own copyrighted content or legally authorized by contracted contributors or supplier organizations. We have the right to publish and charge for them. Visual China has made a clear statement on copyright issues in its agreements with customers, guaranteeing that the copyrighted images provided to customers have legal copyright or have been legally authorized by the copyright owner."

But there was no direct answer to the source of the photos.

How much does Visual China sell the photos of Trump’s assassination for?

A Visual China specialist said that the price is not certain and depends on the specific purpose.

If it is a self-media article illustration, and is used on social media (Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Toutiao and other social media platforms), the price is 2,100 yuan per picture. You can use it on multiple platforms after purchasing one picture.

However, different media and self-media may have different charging standards.

The other party also emphasized that Visual China only authorizes the right to use copyright, and users need to obtain authorization themselves when it comes to portrait rights and property rights.

So if domestic media and self-media use photos of Trump’s assassination and do not indicate the source as Visual China, would it be considered infringement?

The other party said that if the product is used directly without purchase, the user will bear the risk himself.

However, the other party still did not give a direct answer as to whether it constitutes infringement.

The two photos provided by Visual China’s specialist have the same angle and position, but the position of the bodyguard’s head on the far right is different.

Sanyan asked the other party about this matter again, and the other party said that there were only two copies and he could buy them and modify them himself.

The picture information it provided shows that "this content is limited to use as an illustration for information dissemination. It may not be used for commercial purposes without the permission of the copyright owner."

Images also have an id, and the author/source is "supplier".

The photos posted by the Associated Press on social media are the same as those used by Caixin, and the Associated Press also noted that the photos were taken by Evan Vucci.

Visual China has been involved in copyright disputes many times

In fact, Visual China has caused controversy many times due to copyright issues.

As early as 2019, Visual China aroused public anger by including photos of the national flag, national emblem, and black holes in its own gallery.

On the evening of April 11 of that year, Visual China suspended the operation of its website and began self-inspection and rectification. The Cyberspace Administration of China, the Copyright Bureau and other competent departments also successively supervised Visual China. The Tianjin Cyberspace Administration entered the investigation and made the decision to impose a heavier fine.

Last August, sky photographer Dai Jianfeng (jeff) posted a message saying that Visual China notified him of copyright infringement for 173 photos he took, and he was asked to pay more than 80,000 yuan in compensation. However, these so-called "infringing photos" were actually taken by himself, and he had never cooperated with Visual China.

In response, Visual China said it was a misunderstanding. After preliminary verification, the pictures in question were authorized by Jeff to be sold by the picture library Stocktrek Images, and Stocktrek Images authorized the relevant pictures to be sold to Getty Images. As the exclusive partner of Getty Images in mainland China, Visual China has complete sales rights including the pictures in question, and the sales authorization chain of the pictures in question is clear and complete.

Jeff said he does not accept Visual China's point of view.

Jeff said he checked with Stocktrek and was told that Visual China had no right to sell his works and did not have any copyright to his works. After that, Stocktrek said that a representative of Visual China had called the company and the company also clearly notified that Jeff's related works needed to be removed from the Visual China website.

Judging from Jeff's Weibo, he has sued Visual China for illegally selling his photos and demanded compensation. On January 25 this year, the Heping District People's Court of Tianjin continued to exchange evidence, and the court will notify the trial date separately.

So, was this photo of Trump authorized by Stocktrek Images or Getty Images, and then Visual China, as the exclusive partner of Getty Images in mainland China, indirectly obtained the authorization?

Sanyan was not found on the Stocktrek website, but the Getty website jumped to the Visual China website. Getty’s social platform also posted photos of Trump, but from other angles. This included a photo of Trump lying on the ground, but the source was from another photographer.