On July 27, the Inauguration Conference of the Science Fiction Industry Professional Committee of the Chinese Science Writers Association and the Academic Seminar on the Innovation and Development of the Science Fi ction Industry Empowered by Artificial Intelligence were held in Chengdu. The event was held during the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Digital Week. The science fiction industry's discussion of digital technology, artificial intelligence and future life echoed China's global digital innovation exchange atmosphere. Experts, scholars and industry representatives from the fields of science fiction academic research, publishing and distribution, film and television games, digital cultural creation, cultural tourism operations, investment finance, legal services and international communication across the country gathered in Chengdu to witness the official launch of a professional collaboration platform for the entire science fiction industry chain.
At the meeting, Zhou Dejin read out the "Reply of the Chinese Science Writers Association on the Establishment of the Science Fiction Industry Professional Committee". Wang Chunfa issued appointment certificates to the chairman and deputy chairman of the special committee, and Zhou Dejin issued appointment certificates to the members of the special committee. Yang Feng serves as the first chairman, and Yao Xue, Jiang Zhenyu, Chen Shi, Li Guangyi, Dong Jing, Ma Guobin, Gu Bei and Cui Liserve as**deputy chairman. The first special committee has a total of 24 people, with members coming from universities, science fiction companies, funding institutions, industry platforms, legal service organizations and other fields.
According to the conference, the special committee is the first professional branch of the China Science Writers Association to focus on the entire science fiction industry chain. It consists of seven working sections: industrial research and standards, industrial ecology and cooperation, industry-education integration and talents, IP incubation and copyright services, investment, financing and project cultivation, international exchanges and cooperation, and legal and compliance services. The special committee will play the role of resource linking, industry research, project incubation and professional services, and promote the formation of a normalized collaboration mechanism for resource sharing, project co-creation, talent co-cultivation, and achievement co-transformation.
In the industry compliance session, Cui Li, partner of Jingshi Law Firm and director of the Legal Affairs Department of the China Science Fiction Industry, shared her thoughts on using the rule of law to protect the high-quality development of the science fiction industry from the perspectives of intellectual property protection, AI creation copyright and industry compliance.
First from left: Cui Li, partner of Jingsh Law Firm and director of the Legal Affairs Department of China Science Fiction Industry
Cui Li released a full-link implementation plan for legal compliance: using the rule of law as armor to open up blocking points in the entire chain of the science fiction industry. As the deputy director of the Special Committee and the leader of the Legal and Compliance Affairs Department, Cui Li, who has 7 years of teaching and research experience in universities and 31 years of experience as a full-time lawyer, delivered a complete keynote speech with the theme of "Gathering the Powerful Power of Creation, Protecting Industrial Links under the Rule of Law, and Jointly Building a New Pattern for the High-Quality Development of China's Science Fiction Industry". She faced the core pain point of the current industry's "two-way anxiety of creators and capital" and released the five core work cornerstones of the legal compliance section of the special committee.Cui Li pointed out that with the current pressure on the global economy, the intensification of international cultural competition, and the subversion of creative logic by AIGC technology, the four major contradictions in the science fiction industry have become increasingly prominent: international copyright barriers raise export costs, AI generates massive amounts of homogeneous content that dilutes the value of original IP, the supply of hard-core science fiction IP with a complete worldview and humanistic core is insufficient, and there are many gaps in the industrial legal supporting system. There is a clear "two-way anxiety" at both ends of the industry: on the one hand, creators have high-quality stories but do not understand the ownership layout, and it is easy to violate overbearing terms when signing contracts. It is difficult to obtain evidence after infringement, and the cost of rights protection is high; on the other hand, film and television, game, and cultural tourism companies with funds are afraid of unclear IP ownership, adaptation disputes, and cross-border licensing legal risks, and do not dare to develop science fiction projects in depth. "Good stories need the armor of the law to cross mountains and seas." Cui Li proposed that the core mission of the Legal and Compliance Department of the Special Committee is to use the rule of law to open up the entire link of "creation rights confirmation - IP development - investment and financing realization - cross-border overseas expansion - dispute protection" to build a stable bridge between creators, capital, technology and the market.
Cui Li, partner of Jingsh Law Firm and director of China Science Fiction Industry Legal Affairs Department
Cui Li explained in detail the five core service systems of the Legal and Compliance Department on site, covering the entire scenario of creators, industry chain, AI rules, dispute resolution, and IP going overseas:First, for creators: one-stop inclusive legal escortLink to the digital rights confirmation and protection network and study the "Science Fiction Creator Rights Confirmation Operation Manual"; review publishing, adaptation, and platform signing contracts for creators, and eliminate overbearing clauses such as one-time buyout of all copyrights and permanent free derivative development; conduct regular itinerant legal classes, open online legal consultation channels, and support youth science fiction creator support programs.**Second, facing the entire industry chain:**standardized IP industrialization legal toolbox Cooperate with courts, cultural and creative trading centers, and high-quality enterprises to formulate unified contract templates for the regional development of film and television adaptations, game licensing, digital collections, and derivatives, and clarify the accounting, auditing, and IP repurchase mechanisms; coordinate copyright pledges and IP asset securitization financing channels to solve financing problems for sci-fi asset-light enterprises; carry out customized legal examinations for parks, film and television companies, and AI platforms to check for risks such as material infringement, non-compliance of large model training data, and trademark plagiarism.Third: Research and explore the compliance red lines for AI training materials, and propose that large models using original science fiction works must obtain authorization from the rights holders and establish a market-based payment mechanism; study quantitative evaluation standards for human-machine creative contributions; carry out batch collective rights protection against AI manuscript washing and model piracy, etc.
Fourth. Diversified collaborative dispute resolution mechanism Establish an industry mediation workstation, establish the principle of "mediation first", and form a joint mediation team of legal experts and industry writers; provide public welfare agency rights protection for major infringement cases, use a collective rights protection model to dilute individual litigation costs, and form an industry deterrent.Fifth, sci-fi IP cross-border one-stop legal serviceDevelop standardized contract guidelines for overseas publishing, film and television adaptations, and cross-border transactions of derivatives; collaborate with law firms around the world to build an overseas intellectual property protection network to deal with overseas piracy and trademark squatting, remove legal barriers to the global realization of Chinese science fiction, and study and implement cross-border compliance practical plans.Cui Li said at the end of her speech that science fiction is a window into the future of mankind, and intellectual property is the armor that protects imagination. AI can only generate story frames in batches and cannot reproduce the creator's in-depth humanistic thinking about civilization, humanity, and the universe. The vitality of original IP comes from the core of ideas that cannot be copied; and a clear and complete intellectual property legal system is a stable anchor for long-term capital investment in the science fiction industry. The Legal and Compliance Department of the Special Committee will adhere to the service concept of “pre-empowerment and full-process accompaniment”, making law a protective umbrella for creativity and capital a booster for science fiction dreams. In the future, the Legal and Compliance Department will join hands with the entire industry to unite creative forces with the rule of law, activate industrial potential with IP, escort the high-quality development of China's science fiction industry with standardized and professional legal services, and allow original science fiction rooted in China to go nationwide and to the world with complete legal protection.
