Chinese actor sues game companies for using his voice without authorization

Chinese actor Sun Honglei has sued two game companies for using his voice in a classic TV series without his authorization, marking the first such case involving a dispute over voice rights of dialogue in film and television dramas in the country.

The dispute went to court in Chengdu on Monday, and the presiding judge announced that the verdict will be delivered on a later date.

The disputed game, Watermelon Vendor Versus Melon Buyer, was co-developed by Chengdu Shuishenfei Technology Co Ltd and Beijing Shuishenfei Technology Co Ltd. The game allegedly used Sun's voice from the classical TV series Vanquish.

The dialogue involved is from a famous scene in Vanquish where the character Liu Huaqiang, played by Sun, is getting short weight and ripped off by a vendor when buying watermelon. When he tries to reason with the vendor, the vendor confronts him and tries to teach him a lesson, but ends up being beaten by Liu. The scene has become a popular meme on the internet.

During the trial, Sun accused the gaming companies of infringing upon his voice rights. He also claimed that the game depicted him as a bad guy involved in fights, infringing upon his personality rights.

Sun demanded a public apology from the two companies and sought compensation for his economic losses of 450,000 yuan ($62,000) and mental distress of 50,000 yuan.

However, the companies disagreed on whether the game's audio constituted an infringement upon Sun's voice rights. They also argued that the depiction of the game's characters had not violated the actor's personality rights.

Due to significant differing opinions within the collegiate panel in terms of the case on whether the game constitutes an infringement on Sun's voice rights, and if the game does violate Sun's right, how much legal responsibility the company should bear, after the conclusion of trial concluded, the court decided to defer the final judgment to a later date.