Chapter 213 1 set of combo punches
Chapter 213 A Combination Punch
Throughout the period from July to August, the issue of iPhone infringing on the props of a Chinese director's science fiction film has caused a lot of controversy in both China and the United States.
After all, Yifang is a famous young director in China and can often be seen in the entertainment news.
On the other hand, there is a famous American technology company, whose iPhone phones are now selling like hot cakes and are sought after by countless people.
It is indeed legendary that two characters that originally had nothing in common are now mixed together because of the props in the movie.
And with the evidence presented by Wang Hao, everything seemed to have been concluded.
In fact, this matter seems very simple to many smart people. It is nothing more than the overlap between the idea of future mobile phones in the science fiction movie directed by Wang Hao and Apple’s idea of the iPhone.
Although the probability of such a coincidence seems small, it is not without precedent.
Didn't many science fiction writers successfully predict submarines, airplanes, and video phones? It's just that they didn't apply for patents at the time.
Faced with the evidence submitted by Wang Hao, Apple finally realized the seriousness of the whole matter.
The public opinion trend is only one aspect of this. The most crucial thing is that several technical patents in Wang Hao's hands were indeed applied for earlier than those by Apple.
Although the patent in North America has not yet been officially approved, they can use their own company's connections to talk to the patent office and find reasons for the patent office to reject Wang Hao's patent application.
But they are powerless regarding several overseas patents, especially those patent technologies that have been approved in China.
After all, Apple has no way to exert influence on mainland China at this time.
This also means that there will be big problems in the sales of Apple’s iPhone overseas.
Unless they give up overseas markets, especially the huge Chinese market.
So after discovering this situation, Apple immediately contacted Wang Hao, the patent owner, and expressed its willingness to spend money to purchase these patents from him.
As for the purchase price, Apple, which is not short of money, directly offered 1000 million US dollars.
Then, they were rejected by Wang Hao. After all, as a director, Wang Hao didn't lack this little money.
In response, Apple had no choice but to continue raising the price, raising the price of purchasing the patent to 1500 million, 2000 million, and even 3000 million.
However, Wang Hao remained unmoved.
If he were in the United States at this moment, perhaps Apple could find another way, but Wang Hao has been staying in China, and they can only watch helplessly.
Fortunately, Jobs had some connections in Hollywood at the time, and soon Wang Hao received a call from Howard Bruno.
He came to persuade Wang Hao as Apple's lobbyist.
With him as the middleman, and with a lot of Apple shares on hand, Wang Hao did not end up making things too difficult for Apple and directly put forward his demands.
It is impossible to sell the patent, but Wang Hao can provide Apple with patent licensing, and even the price of the licensing can be negotiated.
However, Wang Hao had an additional request, which was that he wanted Apple's Steve Jobs to explain in the media that part of the iPhone's design was indeed inspired by his movie. This special request really made Apple speechless, as it was completely using Apple to make a name for himself.
However, Apple really had no other choice. Moreover, the fact that the phone was inspired by a science fiction movie could also be a gimmick. So Jobs finally said something ambiguous on the social platform:
“I have watched the science fiction movie directed by Wang Hao. The story is very exciting and many of the designs are very science fiction. We at Apple have also drawn a lot of inspiration from it.
Maybe if Wang Hao stops being a director, he can come to Apple and be a product designer.”
With his words, Wang Hao, who was originally only slightly famous in North America, immediately became known to everyone along with the hot sales of iPhone. At the same time, the shipments of his movie discs in North America also skyrocketed, making Columbia Pictures, which was responsible for the distribution, smile from ear to ear.
Moreover, after watching Wang Hao's publicity operation, many film and television companies also began to try to contact Wang Hao, setting their sights on his upcoming new movie "Source Code", trying to persuade him to cooperate with them.
When these overseas news spread back to China, the public intellectuals who had originally criticized Wang Hao suddenly stopped criticizing him.
Public opinion about him on the Internet immediately changed direction, from criticism to praise and commendation.
The former plagiarist has transformed himself into a science fiction film director and design genius who was praised even by Steve Jobs.
The magical nature of his experience made many netizens say that although they did not understand it, they were greatly shocked.
Just when mainland China was buzzing about Wang Hao's patent incident, Galaxy Pictures' TV series "Descendants of the Dragon" was also released on CCTV-8's prime time at the end of August.
Perhaps it was due to the support of Wang Hao's public opinion, or perhaps it was because it was part of the "Galaxy Cinematic Universe", this TV series about the experiences of China's peacekeeping forces overseas became a huge hit as soon as it was aired.
Its ratings have been rising steadily.
The love story between Captain Zhang Ying (Yu Bo) of the special forces and surgeon Jiang Muyun (Song Huiqiao), who gradually grow closer amid the smoke of gunpowder and the spread of infectious diseases, has also moved countless viewers waiting in front of the TV.
In addition, the comradeship shown in the TV series and the fearless spirit of our country's blue helmets have left a deep impression on the audience and allowed countless people to better understand the situation of our country's overseas peacekeeping forces.
Even in the end, CCTV News made a brief report on the popularity of "Descendants of the Dragon", and CCTV Channel 7 also took the opportunity to broadcast an interview and publicity for the Blue Helmets.
It was also with the promotion of official media that "Descendants of the Dragon" became this year's ratings champion with an average viewership rate of 13.7%.
Even the later drama "Golden Wedding" failed to break this record.
Such outstanding results have made those film and television companies that are still on the sidelines feel a little uneasy.
The TV series performed so well, so as a sequel to the TV series, as long as it is not too bad, the performance of the movie will probably not be too bad.
With the end of the TV series "Descendants of the Dragon", Zhang Ying and Jiang Muyun finally got married, and the time came to September.
The audience was surprised to find that the story of "Descendants of the Dragon" seemed far from over.
At least the sci-fi blockbuster "Source Code", created by the original team and starring Yu Bo and Song Huiqiao, is about to be released.
The story of "Descendants of the Dragon" continues!
(End of this chapter)