The abuse of copyright claim has set fire to the Chinese major picture agency VCG

China’s largest stock photo agency Visual China Group (VCG) has come under fire for watermarking the first image taken of a black hole. Following the outcry on social media complaining its overuse of copyright, China’s Communist Youth League (CYL), the youth wing of the country’s ruling party, questioned on Weibo why the images of China’s National Flag and National Emblem were also watermarked on its platform. Later on, the original copyright owner, The European Southern Observatory (ESO), responded to Chinese media nbd.com by claiming VCG’s position was “untenable from a legal perspective” since the picture was “never contracted out” and it’s illegitimate to profit from franchising in any form. VCG is currently halting relevant services for “a thorough rectification”.