Director Viet Tu (left) and representative from Tuan Chau Hanoi JSC at the court on March 20
According to the court, Viet Tu has author’s rights over the Back Then show, while Tuan Chau Hanoi Company retains property rights. Viet Tu was correct in registering the copyright of the show under his name but the court ruled he does not own the current script.
Therefore, the court accepted part of the request from Tuan Chau Hanoi Company that Viet Tu had to transfer ownership of the play, but did not accept their petition of more than VND6.2 billion (USD269,565) in compensation from the director because the court ruled the claim was unfounded.
The court agreed with director Viet Tu that The Quintessence of Tonkin show is a derivative work of Back Then, but turned down Tu's request for VND6.3 billion (USD273,913) from Tuan Chau.
Quintessence of Tonkin launched by Tuan Chau in October 2017 as a large-scale, open-air water stage musical celebrating the heritage of northern Vietnam, named Tonkin during the French colonial period, was lauded by local and foreign media as a world-class performance.
A scene in the The Quintessence of Tonkin show
Although the company introduced that The Quintessence of Tonkin was made by director Hoang Huu Nhat Nam, Viet Tu claimed it reused in entirety his Back Then architecture, stage, backdrop, costumes, and props.
"There are many points in the stories that overlap. They have even used almost all of the actors I trained," Tu claimed, adding that his name needed to appear in the credits for concept, stage design and story creation.
Tu asked Tuan Chau to pay over VND6.3 billion and pay VND660 million as payments representing 10% of ticket sales of the show.
Tuan Chau, however, denied these allegations. They maintain that The Quintessence of Tonkin is a separate product solely researched and created by directors Hoang Huu Nhat Nam and Dao Thuy Phuong Thao.
According to a petition sent by Tuan Chau Hanoi JSC, on November 16, 2015, they signed a contract valued at VND7.4 billion (USD322,000) with Viet Tu and invested VND5.9 billion to produce the Back Then show but it was then stopped just after 10 performances because it "was not able to touch the hearts of the audience".
The company said that Tu had infringed its intellectual property rights by arbitrarily registering a copyright under his name for the show, and so he must pay compensation of VND6.2 billion to the company.