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Chinese actor Ge You has won almost all of the 544 lawsuits he has filed against individuals and companies for using his image without permission. According to the Chinese court database, there have been 602 court documents related to Ge You's "lazy pose," and he has won nearly 100% of the cases, receiving a total of CNY7.59 million in compensation.
Ge You has been involved in lawsuits for the infringement of his image rights for many years, with recent cases including a lawsuit against a Shenzhen-based company for using his image without permission for commercial promotion. Bilibili, a Chinese video-sharing website, was also sued for using Ge You's "lazy pose" meme without permission, and Ge You won the case.
Other large companies, including Hisense, NetEase, Sohu, and Kunming Airlines, have also been sued by Ge You for using his image without permission. The cases are all related to the unauthorized use of the "lazy pose" meme, and Ge You has won almost all of the cases, receiving a total of CNY7.59 million in compensation.
The "lazy pose" meme originates from a scene in the 1993 Chinese TV sitcom "I Love My Family," in which Ge You's character is lying on a sofa in a slouching position. It became popular on the internet as a meme, and was included in the annual top 10 popular Chinese words in 2016. In 2017, the Ministry of Education and the National Language Committee included the "lazy pose" in the annual report on the state of the Chinese language.
Ge You has been fighting for his image rights since the "lazy pose" meme became popular in 2016. The first company sued by Ge You was the Chinese online travel company, Elong, which was ordered to pay CNY75,000 in compensation after a second appeal. In most of the lawsuits, Ge You did not appear in court himself, but instead, the lawsuits were handled by law firms appointed by him.
In recent years, many Chinese celebrities have filed lawsuits for the infringement of their image rights. Most of the cases involve businesses or online platforms using their images without permission. These lawsuits have created a new market for law firms specializing in celebrity rights protection.