A netizen who added "wanted" to a photo of a "living Buddha in China" was charged and acquitted by a judge.

(Reviewed from the World Buddhist Headquarters website)

[Reporter Huang Jialin/Kaohsiung Report] A netizen surnamed Zhang downloaded a photo of Chinese living Buddha Yi Yungao who claimed to be "H.H. The Buddhist Publishing House angrily sued for copyright infringement. During the trial, the judge used "Google" to search for "Yi Yun Gao" and found that there were many photos on the Internet that did not specify the copyright. He found that Zhang Nan had no subjective intent to infringe the copyright and was acquitted.

Yi Yungao, who passed away in the United States in 2022, according to Internet information, was a controversial religious figure born in Dayi County, Wenjiang District, Western Sichuan Administration District, China. He claimed to be "His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III" and absorbed Believers, there are activities in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and more than 100,000 disciples follow.

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The judgment pointed out that between 2020 and 2021, a man surnamed Zhang downloaded Yi Yungao's photos from the Internet at his residence in Gushan District, and added "WANTED Wanted" and "WANTED Wanted (face painting ×)" to his photos. Upload to personal Facebook for users to browse.

The American photographer Lan Bo (transliteration), who took many solemn and solemn photos for Yi Yungao, provided the photos of "Living Buddha" to Global Buddhist Publishing House, World Fayin Publishing House and Fayin Publishing House to publish the third Dorje Regarding books related to the Chang Buddha, the three publishing houses found that Zhang Nan had reproduced and defaced the photos of the "Living Buddha" without authorization, and angrily filed a complaint for violating the copyright law.

During the trial at the Kaohsiung District Court, Zhang Nan complained, arguing that he only wanted to express his personal stand and opinion on the "Living Buddha", so he searched for relevant photos from Google and reproduced them. He did not know that it would infringe the rights and interests of the three publishers; The judge searched for "Yi Yungao" on "Google" on the computer in court and found that there were many photos of Yi Yungao without copyright on the Internet. Therefore, he found that Zhang Nan had no subjective intent to infringe the copyright and acquitted him, and he could appeal.