英文摘要
| Since the birth of the film, it needs to keep a balance between artistic attributes and commercial attributes. My study takes commercial attributes as the main direction, and uses the literature research method, comparative research method and case analysis method to explore the financing models and legal risks of the film industry.
The main financing models include: government funds, bank loans, private equity funds, listing financing and merger financing, advertising investment, crowdfunding and intellectual property securitization. My study focuses on the intellectual property securitization.
A film will appear in front of the audience after production, distribution and screening. The legal risks arising from these three processes are common to all financing models. In the production process, the most obvious risk is the uncomplement of the film. Completion guarantee is the Hollywood’s solution. In the distribution process, the distributor needs to interface with the cinema company as well as media company, and is responsible for accurate marketing between contents and consumers. The cost is also high, so the film will be selected. There is a unique system in the mainland of China which is called distribution guarantee. In the screening process, because of the censorship system, many films will not be able to obtain screening permits for various reasons. At this time, the loss for the investors is huge. The study assesses and reflects on the film censorship system in the mainland of China by comparing with the United States.
The main direction of my study is the securitization of intellectual property . Firstly, it introduces the relevant structure, process and significance of asset securitization, and analyzes the four asset securitization models in the mainland of China. Only corporate asset-backed securitization and asset-backed medium-term notes can be used in the film industry. Secondly, it introduces the current classification of intellectual property securitization, which is divided into three types: intellectual property asset securitization, intellectual property claim securitization, and intellectual property secured financing securitization. My study only analyzes the financing models of the production company, so it focuses on the previous two models. Thirdly, it introduces the DreamWorks and Paramount cases in the United States, and analyzes the Stellar international cinema beneficial rights of trust asset-backed securities. It can be seen that the copyright property right of the film and the box office income are unique as the basic assets of asset securitization. The unique part is considered as the key point in the after-discussion.
The legal risks of the securitization of intellectual property rights in the film industry mainly include the inability to go bankrupt and the future rights. Two important steps to achieve bankruptcy, one is the true sale; the other one is the choice of the organization of special purpose vehicle. The special purpose vehicles of the Chinese film industry include special purpose companies, special purpose trusts and special asset-backed plan, but these three forms may have different legal issues under the existing legal framework in the mainland of China. Therefore, the two-tier structure of \"beneficial rights of trust + special asset-backed plan \" is derived from the practice, and my study also conducts an in-depth analysis. At the same time, it expounds the impact of the new regulation on the beneficial rights of trust in the two-tier structure. For future rights, it involves both assignment and pledge. My study starts with the assignment and pledge of existing claims and copyrights, and then tries to solve the problems whether the future claims and future copyrights can be assigned and pledged, the effective time of assignment and pledge, and the double let of future rights. Finally, it is concluded that the future rights can be assigned and pledged. The time when the assignment and pledge take effect, my study tends to adopt the current US treatment mode. The future rights take effect when the parties agree to assign and pledge the future rights. Meanwhile,the registration system can be introduced as the means of publicity.
The film industry requires a huge amount of capital due to its own characteristics, so it needs various financing models. The existing obstacles of laws should be improved, but they cannot be the reasons that hinder the producers from choosing the securitization of intellectual property for financing. The sufficient funds are guarantees for high quality films. |