So what if it wasn't intentional? He simply couldn't believe that a top designer like Edmund wouldn't know what copyright protection meant.
How come that designer from the Korean country was able to so easily obtain the totem elements that Edmund brought back from Lang Mountain?
Jiang Xia simply didn't believe that, given Edmund's position in the company, other designers would dare to touch his things without his permission!
Ultimately, it doesn't really matter.
Whether it's Asia, Africa, or Australia, in the eyes of these Western designers, the people here don't understand art. Those ancient cultures that have left a splendid mark on human history, regardless of their ethnicity, are all "sources of inspiration" that they can use at will...
What kind of "inspiration" is this?! Plagiarism is plagiarism!
Seeing Jiang Xia so angry he was practically fuming, Jiang Xiaoman patted his shoulder reassuringly. Then, noticing a TV reporter walking over to make a phone call, she quickly leaned close to his ear and whispered—
Do I look like the kind of person who would be willing to suffer a loss?
"Don't worry, I've already registered all the necessary patents. Hmph~ They don't really think that we young Chinese people of this generation are as kind and easy to bully as our grandparents and parents, do they?"
Jiang Xia turned her head and glanced at him.
Jiang Xiaoman immediately flashed a smile, revealing eight teeth, and gave him a kind and simple smile.
He was immediately relieved.
Anyone who looks at Jiang Xiaoman's face and actually thinks he's a naive, kind, and easy-going country boy might unknowingly end up having his bank safe deposit box combination stolen by him...
Don't look at him! He's not the sucker who got scammed!
He had heard that Jiang Xiaoman had been humiliated by the county TV station when he went to borrow equipment, only to be charged an exorbitant price. Feeling indignant, he invested some money in their e-commerce incubation center. Anyway, he hadn't planned to save money to get married, and he happened to have over 300,000 yuan in savings, so he figured he might as well use it as an investment.
He wasn't fooled by Jiang Xiaoman's act of pretending to be strong while feeling wronged!
Jiang Xiaoman explained this to Jiang Xia mainly because he and Edmund were friends. If Edmund was indeed unaware of this matter, then Jiang Xiaoman would remove his name from the defendant's column.
Yes, the defendant.
They've blatantly stolen from him, do you expect him to whine and run online to complain to netizens?
If tears are useful, then what's the point of patent protection laws?
If whoever cries the loudest is right, then he might as well spend a few thousand yuan to hire all the grandmas and aunties in Langshan Town who cry the loudest, and have them cry at each other from a distance!
Crying is useless against those shameless cultural thieves; only the law will work!
Edmund was surprised that Jiang Xia would actually give him a chance to explain. After receiving the call, he immediately explained the situation he had just found out.
Jiang Xiaoman's guess was correct. Given Edmund's current status in the fashion industry, he would rather have his press conference canceled than risk being tainted with an indelible stain like "plagiarism" just to increase the number of his works.
The truth is that after his design concept was unveiled at an internal group meeting, as is customary, he was supposed to share some of his inspirations at the meeting. Unexpectedly, this internal meeting was the one that someone took advantage of.
After the meeting, the designer from South Korea vaguely told his superior that the inspiration Edmund shared at the meeting was very similar to certain patterns on the clothing of South Korean nobles hundreds of years ago, and he even found some similar ancient paintings to support this claim.
Edmund wasn't without rivals within the group. One of these rivals, eager to teach the arrogant Edmund a lesson, had a brilliant idea: this "creative inspiration from South Korea" series was born...
This is truly a case of "you can guard against anything, but it's hard to guard against a thief within your own ranks"!
Chapter 278
While the internet was in an uproar over this plagiarism incident, Jiang Xiaoman directly posted a lawyer's letter on her personal social media account, suing the South Korean designer who plagiarized her work, as well as their entire team!
At the same time, Jin Yan's CEO, Mr. Jin, also announced on the company and his personal social media accounts that if Hera Group does not give a "correct response" to this matter, they will immediately terminate all cooperation with Hera Group in accordance with Hera Group's unilateral breach of contract.
Jin Chengjie always kept his phone calls to his father a secret from his mother.
After all, Yan Susu left her son in Langshan, this remote mountain village, so that he could get in touch with the Hera Group and firmly control Jinyan's high-end customized product line.
But now, Jin Chengjie wants to persuade his father to terminate all cooperation with the Hera Group...
Just thinking about his mother's reaction to the news made Jin Chengjie want to pack his bags and take his wife and children to hide in the mountains.
But I can't hide! No matter how cowardly I am, I can't hide. He's Chinese!
They've stepped on your head, arrogantly claiming your ancestors' things as their own, and then mocking you for not protecting the treasures left by your ancestors. Can't any man tolerate that?
Jin Chengjie was still hesitating, but unexpectedly, Jiang Xiaoman, that jerk, actually comforted him in a sarcastic tone: It's okay, if you're afraid your mom will get angry at you, I'll make this call.
Who...who's afraid?
With a determined heart, Jin Chengjie took out his phone, first adding his mother's number to the blacklist, and then immediately called his father to report the situation.
What was Mr. Jin's reaction after receiving the call from his son?
The hot-tempered CEO Jin immediately unleashed a beautiful speech in Chinese. Still not satisfied after the outburst, he convened a meeting of the company's top executives that very night.
The company's senior management was still immersed in the dream that Jin Yan was about to go global and cooperate with top international luxury brands when they suddenly heard their chairman say that all cooperation with Hera was to be suspended.
What is that?
The shareholders couldn't help but wonder if they had entered the room in the wrong way. Had the chairman gone mad?
...
At the same time, Yan Susu, who received a tip from the company, went completely mad.
Is her son possessed by an evil spirit?
That's Hera, a globally renowned top-tier luxury brand!
She wouldn't even buy Hera's clothes for herself!
Of course, the main reason is that she didn't spend enough money; the high-end brands simply ignored her...
Yan Susu thought that since Hera had taken the initiative to approach them for cooperation, what was wrong with borrowing Chinese patterns? It wasn't a trade secret!
She had also seen that Langshan embroidery, and found it incredibly rustic. Yan Susu looked down on it completely, and simply couldn't understand why foreign haute couture designers would be interested in such tacky, rural stuff.
However, since foreign designers like it, why can't we let them use it?
Although Yan Susu wasn't highly educated, she felt she had a good sense of style. She thought Hera's designs were far superior to the tacky Langshan embroidery.
Having finally found such a promising path to success, with benefits that others wouldn't even dare to dream of, have her two men gone mad? They actually want to unilaterally suspend cooperation with Hera?
Yan Susu immediately called her son.
Unfortunately, Jin Chengjie knew his mother too well and had already blacklisted Yan Susu.
Unable to reach her husband by phone, Yan Susu was furious. When her husband returned home that evening, she was so enraged that she immediately began to complain to President Jin.
Mr. Jin listened quietly to Yan Susu's words, staring at her charming face for a long while, until Yan Susu felt uneasy. Then she put down her teacup, leaned back on the sofa, and suddenly asked—
"I don't think I told you about this, did I?"
“When A-Jie called me, the press conference over there was still going on.”
"So, Susu, tell me, how did you know that the company's senior management was discussing this matter?"
Yan Susu: "..."
At any time, prying into or leaking company trade secrets is a capital offense that the boss absolutely cannot tolerate!
The next morning, the human resources department of Jinyan Group issued an internal notice dismissing a middle-level manager in an important position.
Jin Yonghua felt that his doting on Yan Susu had indeed gone too far, to the point that this woman even dared to place people around him.
Is she really that eager to become a widow?
Yan Susu moved out of the Jin family mansion, and Jin Yonghua did not mistreat her. He arranged a driver and a nanny for her and let her stay in a scenic resort sanatorium.
The official statement was that his wife had gone away for medical treatment due to health reasons.
What will happen to the Jin family mansion now that there is no mistress of the house?
Jin Yonghua had more than just Yan Susu as a woman.
Within two days, a woman a few years older than Yan Susu but with a very good temperament moved into the Jin family mansion. If Yan Susu saw this woman, she would probably be furious.
Back then, Jin Yonghua had been pursuing a woman named Yuan Yuan. This woman was an independent designer with taste and elegance, but she was too proud and looked down on Jin Yonghua for having so many women outside. She refused to accept Jin Yonghua's advances.
That's how Yan Susu managed to snag the opportunity and become the last Mrs. Jin.
Wait... maybe she's not the last one.
Men are all like that. Even if they're seventy or eighty years old, as long as they're not hanging on the wall, you never know what kind of trouble they'll cause until the very last moment!
The fact that Yuan Yuan, a highly educated and accomplished woman with her own career, was willing to live in the Jin family mansion without any official status, completely shocked everyone.
Jin Chengjie, who was far away in Langshan, was devastated when he heard that his biological mother had made a mistake and was under house arrest, and that there was now a stepmother in his family.
Jin Chengjie hurriedly removed his mother from the blacklist, but when he tried to call her back, he couldn't get through.
After all, she was his own mother. Yan Susu was scheming against others, but she was truly good to her own son. Jin Chengjie immediately wanted to go home and demand an explanation from his father.
Jiang Xiaoman stopped him.
What can you do if you go back now?
"Can you persuade your dad and mom to reconcile, or can you kick your stepmother out of the house?"
"Jin Chengjie, you're not a child anymore. Please be more mature, okay? Use your brain! Instead of recklessly arguing with your dad and ruining your relationship, you should think about why your dad suddenly put your mom in the cold palace?"
When Jiang Xiaoman heard the phrase "relegated to the cold palace," she almost burst out laughing.
But I managed to hold back!
Although he and Yan Susu could never have a loving mother-son relationship in this lifetime, Yan Susu had at least given him a life. Most importantly, although he couldn't feel close to his birth mother, Yan Susu, his adopted younger brother, Jin Chengjie, had surprised Jiang Xiaoman by revealing his admirable qualities through their daily interactions.
This guy is kind by nature. Although he's a bit of a jerk when it comes to love, his previous "girlfriends" were basically all gold diggers who were willing to date Jin Chengjie. Besides wanting to marry into a wealthy family, they mostly wanted to get some benefits from him.
After all, the young master Jin used to be very generous.
After arriving in Langshan, the environment had probably changed. There were no more ill-intentioned people around him trying to trick him into doing bad things. In addition, the industrial park was really short of people. Gradually, this guy actually started to work seriously!
It's also possible that becoming a father has given him a greater sense of responsibility, which has made Jiang Xiaoman more patient in guiding Jin Chengjie onto the right path.
He stopped Jin Chengjie not for Yan Susu's sake, but for Jin Chengjie's own.
Jin Chengjie was stunned for a while, and after thinking hard about the hypothesis proposed by Jiang Xiaoman, he couldn't help but feel a little frustrated.
“Brother, I just want our family to be the same as before, for Mom and Dad to be able to live together happily, and for me to have a complete family. But my dad is like this now, kicking Mom out and bringing other women home…” Jin Chengjie was in great pain.
He used to think that a man should be like his father, surrounded by all sorts of beautiful women, that's what it means to be dashing.
But if you look at it from another angle, when this woman who was ruthlessly abandoned becomes your own mother, it's not about being carefree, but about feeling pain and resentment.
"That's why I want you to figure out why your dad kicked your mom out. He can't just divorce his own mother for no reason, can he? You need to figure out the reason first before you can know how to help your mom go back to that home."