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Recently, after the death of famous writer Qiong Yao, the issue of the ownership of her vast fortune has become a hot topic in the public eye. According to reports, Qiong Yao's copyright income may exceed NT$4.4 billion (roughly equivalent to RMB 1 billion). As Qiong Yao did not clearly disclose the distribution of her property before her death, the huge amount of copyright left behind has also become a focus of attention.

Accordingly, Zhao Zhanling, a special researcher at the Intellectual Property Research Centre of the China University of Political Science and Law and a lawyer at JAVY law firm, was interviewed by China Business News to explain the incident.

On 11 December, Qiong Yao's family reportedly held a farewell ceremony at a funeral home in Taiwan, China.

A statement from Qiong Yao's company shows that her daughter-in-law and Writers‘ Publishing House have already noticed the copyright belonging to this matter. 6 December, Writers’ Publishing House microblogging shows that Keren Entertainment International Limited (Qiong Yao's film and television company, referred to as ‘Keren’) and Writers' Publishing House Limited have jointly issued the “About” statement. Qiong Yao's work’ book copyright joint statement ’.

According to the statement, Renren Entertainment International Limited is the sole copyright holder of all literary works created by Qiong Yao (hereinafter referred to as ‘Qiong Yao's works’) before her death. Writers Publishing House Co., Ltd. enjoys the exclusive right to publish 71 copies of Qiong Yao's works in simplified Chinese in mainland China. Except for the editions of Qiong Yao's works published by Writers Publishing House Limited, the authorisation period for the publication of Qiong Yao's works (single volume or collection) published by other publishers in Mainland China has expired.

According to the above statement, the copyright of Qiong Yao's works has nothing to do with Crown Publishing House. Crown Publishing House was founded by Qiong Yao's husband Ping Xintao before his death, and public information shows that Ping Xintao had made clear the distribution of the estate before his death, and Crown Publishing was partially handed over to the children of the Ping family. Therefore, in general, the copyright of Qiong Yao's works has nothing to do with Qiong Yao's stepchildren.

In addition, it has been reported that Qiong Yao's daughter-in-law, Connie Ho, had already emphasised in her circle of friends that ‘speculation is strictly prohibited and infringement is curbed’. Qiong Yao had also mentioned in a post in September 2018 that ‘the IP in my hands will be handed over to the younger generation, led by Connie Qiong’. There are three film and television companies under Qiong Yao's banner, and apart from Keren, the general manager of Yiren and Zhongjie is Qiong Yao's daughter-in-law, Connie Ho, and her son, Chen Zhongwei, is in charge of production.

Lawyer Zhao Zhanling said that the distribution of Qiong Yao's estate should apply to the relevant regulations in Taiwan, China. However, if there is no will according to mainland Chinese law, then legal succession applies, i.e., it is inherited by her first-order legal heirs (i.e., parents, spouse, and children), and since her spouse has passed away, her parents should have passed away as well, and she has only one son according to public information, the entire estate will be inherited by her son.

‘With regard to the copyright of Qiong Yao's works, the relevant regulations in Taiwan, China are also generally applicable. If the relevant works are published, distributed or adapted in mainland China, mainland Chinese law also applies, and the period of protection for the copyright of a natural person's work is for the lifetime of the author and fifty years after his death. Within fifty years after Qiong Yao's death, the copyright of her works will be exercised by her legal heirs, i.e., her son, and the relevant income such as copyright royalties or royalties of the works will also belong to her son.’ Zhao Zhanling lawyer said.